Why are there only 31 picks in the first round of the 2023 NFL Draft?

The first round of the NFL Draft is normally the most exciting 32 picks of the entire event, so why are there only 31 picks in the first round for 2023?

On Thursday night, the NFL is going to see changes start to take shape in the first round of the 2023 NFL Draft. Football fans across the world are ready to tune into NFL Network and see the first 31 picks of the draft be selected and their favorite teams set up the future (or ruin it if, you know, they screw it up).

If you noticed something odd about that sentence, though, it’s that Bryce Young, Will Levis, CJ Stroud, Will Anderson and so on will all be part of the first 31 picks in the 2023 NFL Draft, not the traditional 32 first-round picks that we’re so accustomed to seeing in the draft.

It’s abnormal that we have one fewer pick in the first round of this year’s draft, but we have the answers as to why there are only 31 picks in the first round in 2023.

Why are there only 31 picks in first round of 2023 NFL Draft?

There are only 31 picks in the first round of the 2023 NFL Draft because the Miami Dolphins were forced to forfeit their first-round pick, which would’ve been No. 21 overall, due to violations of the league’s anti-tampering policy from 2019-22. The NFL also forced the Dolphins to forfeit the franchise’s 2024 third-round pick as a result of their violations.

So what exactly did the Dolphins do to lose their pick and leave us with just 31 first-round picks this year?

Why did Dolphins lose their first-round pick in 2023 NFL Draft?

In the league’s investigation into Dolphins owner Stephen Ross and vice chairman Bruce Beal, they found three infractions that involved Tom Brady and Sean Payton.

As early as 2019, Ross and Beal had impermissable contact with Brady regarding trying to get him to play in Miami. This occurred while he was still with the Patriots, more specifically before his contract had run out. The communications with Brady then resurfaced in 2021 when the Dolphins brass again contacted Brady, this time about him possibly taking a stake in the team and again with mentions of the possibility of quarterbacking in Miami.

The last violation occurred in 2022 when Ross and the Dolphins were in contact with Payton’s agent, Don Yee, about the longtime Saints head coach and now Broncos head coach coming to coach in Miami. These conversations transpired without the permission of the Saints and prior to Payton eventually announcing his retirement, which triggered the anti-tampering violations that the organization is being penalized for.