With the awarding of the 32 compensatory selections Monday, the NFL released the current order of selections for the 2012 NFL Draft, to be held April 26-28 in New York City.
In order to better illustrate the draft, a grid format, much like ones seen in fantasy football drafts, was used which allows a view of how each round plays out side-by-side. This view also shows how ties in record affect the draft order, especially among tied teams. Ties are broken by strength of schedule, and when the strength of schedule is tied, a coin flip is performed at the NFL Combine to determine which club selects first, with the clubs alternating spots each round.
This year, Miami and Carolina had a 6-10 record and a .504 strength of schedule. Miami won the flip and selects No. 8 overall. Carolina will select No. 9 and the other 6-10 team — Buffalo, with a .520 SOS — picks at No. 10 overall. In the second round, Carolina goes eighth in the round, Buffalo selects ninth and Miami selects tenth.
The other coin flip involved Kansas City and Seattle, which were both 7-9 with a .512 SOS. The Chiefs won the choice to pick the No. 11 selection, while the Seahawks will go at No. 12, and the order flips each round.
Indianapolis (2-14) has the No. 1 overall selection in the tie with St. Louis, due to a lower SOS (.539 to .590). The Colts and Rams flip their order each round.
The biggest logjam comes among the seven 8-8 teams (in order of SOS) — Arizona, Dallas, Philadelphia, New York Jets, Oakland, San Diego and Chicago. No coin flips were needed as all seven had different SOS percentages.
The only tie among the 2011 playoff participants, comes at No. 22 and No. 23 in the first round, as both Atlanta and Detroit lost in the Wild Card Round. Both clubs finished with a 10-6 record, but the Falcons had the lower SOS (.480 to .535), and Atlanta starts the alternate selections at No. 22 in the first round.
Here is the grid of the 2012 NFL Draft:
| Round Sel # | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Round 4 | Round 5 | Round 6 | Round 7 |
| 1 | IND | STL | IND | STL | IND | STL | IND |
| 2 | WAS from STL | IND | STL | IND | DEN from STL | PHI from IND | STL |
| 3 | CLE from MIN | MIN | MIN | MIN | MIN | WAS from MIN | MIN |
| 4 | MIN from CLE | TB | MIN from CLE | HOU from TB thru PHI | CLE | TB | MIN from CLE |
| 5 | TB | CLE | TB | CLE | TB | MIN from CLE | TB |
| 6 | STL from WAS | JAX | WAS | JAX | WAS | JAX | WAS |
| 7 | JAX | STL from WAS | JAX | WAS | JAX | ARZ from WAS | IND from JAX thru NYJ |
| 8 | MIA | CAR | BUF | MIA | CAR | BUF | MIA |
| 9 | CAR | BUF | MIA | CAR | BUF | NO from MIA | CAR |
| 10 | BUF | MIA | MIA from CHI thru CAR | BUF | MIA | CAR | BUF |
| 11 | KC | SEA | KC | SEA | KC | SEA | KC |
| 12 | SEA | KC | SEA | KC | BUF from SEA | KC | DET from SEA |
| 13 | ARZ | DAL | HOU from PHI | DEN from NYJ | OAK | SD | CHI |
| 14 | DAL | PHI | NYJ | WAS from OAK | SD | CHI | ARZ |
| 15 | PHI | NYJ | supp (OAK) | SD | CHI | ARZ | DAL |
| 16 | NYJ | NE from OAK | SD | CHI | ARZ | DAL | MIN from PHI thru NE |
| 17 | CIN from OAK | SD | CHI | ARZ | DAL | NYJ from PHI thru IND | GB from NYJ |
| 18 | SD | CHI | ARZ | DAL | PHI | DEN from NYJ | SEA from OAK |
| 19 | CHI | PHI from ARZ | DAL | PHI | NYJ | OAK | SD |
| 20 | TEN | TEN | TEN | TEN | TEN | TEN | TEN |
| 21 | CIN | CIN | CIN | CIN | CIN | CIN | JAX from CIN |
| 22 | CLE from ATL | DET | ATL | DET | ATL | forfeit (DET) | PHI from ATL |
| 23 | DET | ATL | DET | MIN from CLE thru ATL | DET | ATL | DET |
| 24 | PIT | PIT | PIT | PIT | PIT | PIT | PIT |
| 25 | DEN | DEN | DEN | DEN | CLE from DEN | PHI from DEN | NYJ from DEN |
| 26 | HOU | HOU | PHI from HOU | HOU | HOU | HOU | HOU |
| 27 | NE from NO | forfeit (NO) | NO | NO | NO | MIA from NO | NO |
| 28 | GB | GB | GB | GB | GB | GB | GB |
| 29 | BAL | BAL | BAL | BUF from BAL | BAL | BAL | BAL |
| 30 | SF | SF | SF | SF | SF | SF | SF |
| 31 | NE | NE | NE | NE | CIN from NE | PHI from NE | KC from NE |
| 32 | NYG | NYG | NYG | CIN from NYG | NYG | NYG | NYG |
| 33 | OAK | MIN | OAK | NYJ | PIT | ||
| 34 | OAK | BAL | NYJ | GB | |||
| 35 | BAL | IND | CLE | NYJ | |||
| 36 | NYG | CLE | GB | ||||
| 37 | GB | IND | NYJ | ||||
| 38 | GB | CAR | CLE | ||||
| 39 | MIN | PIT | |||||
| 40 | DAL | CLE | |||||
| 41 | PIT | ||||||
| 42 | ATL | ||||||
| 43 | SD | ||||||
| 44 | BUF | ||||||
| 45 | STL | ||||||
| 46 | IND | ||||||
| forfeit - choice forfeited by club (NO - bounty investigation discipline & DET - tampering vs. KC); supp - OAK chose QB Terrelle Pryor in 2011 Supplemental Draft. | |||||||
| Source: NFL | |||||||


