At 7 p.m. Thursday night NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell will put the Cleveland Browns "on the clock," signaling the start of the 2018 NFL Draft at AT&T Stadium.
Arlington is the third city to host the event since 2014, when the event finished a decades-long run in New York City. The NFL held the draft in Chicago in 2015 and 2016, before moving it to Philadelphia last year.
The first round will be Thursday night, with rounds two and three on Friday starting at 6 p.m. Rounds four through seven will take place on Saturday beginning at 11 a.m.
NBC 5's Newy Scruggs predicts Dallas, which holds the 19th overall pick, will select Boise State linebacker Leighton Vander Esch in the first round, while Pat Doney has the Cowboys taking Iowa offensive lineman James Daniels.
Some of the top college prospects in the country are expected to attend the festivities, including Penn State running back Saquon Barkley, 2016 Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Lamar Jackson of Louisville, and quarterback Sam Darnold of USC, who Scruggs has going first overall.
The only player from a school in the Lone Star State scheduled to be in attendance is University of Texas All-American offensive tackle Connor Williams. Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield, the 2017 Heisman Trophy winner, will not attend, according to NFL.com.
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Goodell, who has publicly feuded with Cowboys owner Jerry Jones over the last year, will announce each team's first round selection. When he reaches the podium for Dallas' Thursday night pick, he will be accompanied by football captains from six Arlington ISD schools: Arlington, Bowie, Seguin, Lamar, Martin and Sam Houston High Schools.
In rounds two and three, Goodell will give way to current and former NFL players for the picks. Round two will feature a legend from each NFL team, including Hall of Famers Jim Brown (Cleveland), Andre Reed (Buffalo), Mike Singletary (Chicago), and LaDainian Tomlinson (Los Angeles Chargers), while round three announcements will be made by former Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award winners.
For the Cowboys, Hall of Fame defensive tackle Bob Lilly will announce the team's second-round pick and four-time Pro Bowl center Travis Frederick will announce its third-round selection.
The NFL will recognize active duty service members, veterans and their families throughout the weekend in Arlington. Before the first round on Thursday, a joint color guard from Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth will be onstage during the national anthem. When Lilly takes the stage to make the Cowboys' second-round pick, he will be accompianed by the family of Ellery Ray Wallace, a Texas native who died while serving in Afghanistan in 2010.
