The 2020 NFL Draft will be unlike any other. Each team better hope they have a good Internet connection. The league announced the draft will be done entirely virtually with no personnel at their team facility, Roger Goodell sent in a memo to all 32 teams Monday morning.
Here’s the most important part of the letter:
“Because of these circumstances, Clubs have been advised to prepare to conduct the 2020 Draft entirely outside of their facilities and in a fully virtual format, with club personnel in separate locations and able to communicate with one another and Draft headquarters by phone or internet. We have reviewed this matter in the past few days with both the Competition Committee and CEC, and this will confirm that Clubs will conduct their Draft operations remotely, with club personnel separately located in their homes.”
Schefter notes teams won’t be allowed to gather at one person’s home either. Personnel must be separate during the three-day event.
Previous media reports indicated Mike Tomlin, Kevin Colbert, and Art Rooney II planned to gather at the Steelers’ facility with other scouting members working from home. That will no longer be allowed.
The draft event in Vegas has been cancelled and will now be televised in-studio on a much smaller scale. It’s unclear exactly how the networks, ESPN and NFL Network, will conduct things.
Pittsburgh won’t pick until Day Two of the draft, on the clock at #49 and not again until the end of the third round at #102. They’ll have a pair of 4th round picks, a 6th, and a 7th for a current total of six selections.
