2021 NFL Draft second-most-watched draft ever

Ahead of the opening of the 2021 NFL Draft Thursday night, Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio wrote that the league was prepared to endure a dip in television ratings from last year's draft. That, in fact, is what happened, but it turns out the NFL didn't have much to worry about. 

Sportico's Anthony Crupi noted on Friday that the first round of this year's player selection process drew 12.5 million viewers, making it the second-most-watched evening in NFL Draft history only to the 2020 virtual draft (15.6 million viewers with streaming included) that occurred while millions were staying inside due to concerns linked with COVID-19. Crupi added that the draft beat Sunday's Academy Awards broadcast by 2.1 million viewers. 

In total, ESPN averaged 6.48 million viewers on Thursday night. ABC came in second with 4.19 million viewers, followed by NFL Network at 1.85 million. 

Several factors may have contributed to Thursday's draft coverage doing better in ratings than at least some predicted even though the first two picks were common knowledge days and weeks ahead of time. Stories that reigning NFL Most Valuable Player Aaron Rodgers may want to part ways with the Green Bay Packers generated unexpected headlines and buzz throughout Thursday afternoon, and signal-callers Justin Fields and Mac Jones both dropped out of the top 10 selections in front of prime-time audiences. 

Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk explained: