How to watch the 2018 NFL Draft online: free live stream anywhere in the world

If you’re a fan of the NFL, then you know just how important draft day is for aspiring college players and the NFL's 32 teams. You probably also know how dramatic the draft can be to watch - and we'll tell you how to live stream every pick.

Each year all of the franchises in the NFL come together to choose from among the most talented college players to add to their roster for next year’s season. Almost 10 million football fans tuned in for last year’s opening round and this year’s draft will likely be just as popular.

The 2018 NFL Draft will take place at AT&T stadium in Arlington, Texas from April 26 to the 28 and there will be seven rounds with each team getting one pick per cycle.

The order in which the teams choose players is decided by their win-loss record for the previous season and by whether or not they made it to the playoffs. The Cleveland Browns will be the first team to pick this year while the winners of last year’s Super Bowl, the Philadelphia Eagles, will be the last.

The popularity of the NFL draft means that it will be televised on several channels in the US including ESPN and Fox. But there’s no need to worry about missing the action if you don’t have a cable subscription, as all three days of the 2018 NFL draft will be shown online at NFL.com and we’ll show you exactly how to tune into the live stream from anywhere in the world.

How to watch the NFL draft: US live stream

If you live in the US, then you’ll have plenty of options when it comes to watching the 2018 NFL draft live. If you have a cable subscription, all seven rounds of the draft will be televised on ESPN, ESPN 2 and the NFL network while those without cable can still watch all of the first three rounds over-the-air on Fox with ESPN’s coverage of rounds four to seven on Saturday being simulcast on ABC.

If you prefer to watch the NFL Draft on your computer or laptop, remember that the whole event will be streamed live and for free online at NFL.com starting at 8pm ET/5pm PT on Thursday April 26.

For those on the go, NFL will stream this year’s draft on mobile via the official NFL app. Alternatively you could also watch the event on Fox Sports Go, though with both of these options you will have to sign in using your cable provider’s information for full access.

How to watch the NFL draft in the UK

Fans of American football in the UK will be able to watch the 2018 NFL draft on Sky Sports 2. The network will cover all of the picks at this year’s draft live starting on Friday April 28 at 12:30am BST (so deep into Thursday night) with a Day One Review scheduled for 10:30pm BST later in the day. Immediately afterwards, Sky Sports will show day two of the NFL draft at 11pm on Friday and their coverage of the final day of the draft will start at 7pm on Saturday.

If you are not a subscriber, don’t worry as you can still watch the draft online by gaining access to NFL.com’s live stream. There is a chance that the coverage will be unavailable for those people outside the US, but there's a solution for that. You can use a VPN to dial your laptop into a US location. It's really easy - just follow these three steps below...

Stream the NFL draft anywhere in the world

If the NFL draft is not available in your country, don’t worry as you’ll be able to stream the whole event live from NFL.com using a VPN. Just like in the UK, the best way to watch the NFL draft is to download and install a VPN. Pick one of the VPN providers listed above, download their software and you’ll be able to change your IP address to one in the US so you can access NFL’s coverage of the draft right on their site.