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2015 Pro Bowl Draft rules

The second annual NFL Pro Bowl Draft will take place on Wednesday, Jan. 21 live from Arizona on NFL Network. Verizon users with a Premium subscription or MORE Everything plan will have the ability to watch the Pro Bowl Draft live in NFL Mobile.

Pro Bowl Draft Outline

Front office

Alumni Captains: Cris Carter and Michael Irvin. The alumni captain has final say in the draft.

Offensive Captains: DeMarco Murray and Antonio Brown

Defensive Captains: J.J. Watt and Joe Haden

Alumni Co-Captains: John Randle and Darren Woodson

Captains

The top two offensive vote getters and the top two defensive vote getters will be appointed as captains. Captain groups will be:

Highest offensive vote-getter (Murray) and second-highest defensive vote-getter (Haden).

Highest defensive vote-getter (Watt) and second-highest offensive vote-getter (Brown).

Captains must be from teams that are non-conference championship game participants (28 teams).

Captains will be determined by the Tuesday following the divisional playoff games (at the latest).

Coin toss

On Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2015, there will be a coin toss at the Pro Bowl press conference. The winner will choose between the captain group or first pick in the pre-selection draft and the prime-time Wednesday Jan. 21, 2015 drafts. If the winner of the coin flip chooses a captain group, the loser will be assigned the other captain group and have first pick in the pre-selection draft and the prime-time Jan. 21, 2015 drafts. If the winner of the coin flip chooses first pick in the pre-selection draft and the prime-time Jan. 21, 2015 drafts, the loser will pick a captain group.

Team rosters

Offense: Each Pro Bowl team must have 21 players on offense in the following positions:

» Four wide receivers
» Three tackles
» Three guards
» Two centers
» Two tight ends
» Three quarterbacks
» Three running backs
» One fullback

Defense: Each Pro Bowl team must have 18 players on defense in the following positions:

» Three defensive ends
» Three interior linemen
» Three outside linebackers
» Two inside/middle linebackers
» Four cornerbacks
» Three safeties

Special Teams: Each Pro Bowl team must have five players on special teams in the following positions:

Draft eligible players

There are 88 players that participate in the Pro Bowl. Eighty-two of these 88 players are draft eligible. Four of the 88 players will be captains as described above. Two of the 88 players are appointed by coaches because they are "need" players (e.g., long snapper) and will be drafted with the coaches.

A maximum of 64 players will be drafted, while a minimum of 18 players will be assigned. Once a team fills its roster limit for a position, the other team is assigned the remaining players at that position. Assignments do not count as picks. For example, if Team Carter has only picked two WRs when Team Irvin picks its fourth WR, the remaining two WRs will be assigned to Team Carter and Team Carter will have the next pick in the draft.

Pre-draft selection

This draft will be taped either on Jan. 20, 2015 at noon directly after the coin toss (part of this will be shown on NFL.com and throughout the Jan. 21, 2015 night draft). Picks will be a maximum of 30 seconds.

Twenty-six players, 13 per team, are drafted or assigned in segments from the following position groups in this order:

  1. Three interior linemen
    1. Three guards
    2. Two centers
    3. One fullback, one punter, one placekicker, one returner and and one special teamer (e.g. coverage player)

Picks are in alternating order. There will be eight players assigned. There will be 18 actual selections made by the full front office. After the pre-selection, each team will have 15 players (30 total players): 13 draft/assigned during Tuesday Jan. 20, 2015's draft and two captains.

Draft night

On Jan. 21, 2015, players selected/assigned during the pre-selection draft will be recognized at the outset of the show. All players will be given and wear their team's Pro Bowl jersey. All players being drafted on Wednesday night's show will wear their NFL team jersey. The remaining players are drafted in a two-hour live show on NFL Network on Wednesday night Jan. 21, 2015.

Sixty seconds maximum per pick, but captains need not take the full time to make a selection.

Fifty-six players, 28 per team, will be drafted or assigned from the following position groups:

» Four wide receivers
» Three tackles
» Two tight ends
» Three quarterbacks
» Three running backs
» Three outside linebackers
» Two inside/middle linebackers
» Four cornerbacks
» Three safeties
» Three defensive ends

Notes

Four of the players above will be captains and already on a team prior to the Jan. 21, 2015 draft.

There will be a minimum of 10 players assigned. There will be a maximum of 46 players drafted.

At the conclusion of the draft, the team that chooses second will draft the coaching staff (and need player).

Coaches only need to be present for the last 30 minutes of the draft.

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