The long-awaited 2020 National Football League (NFL) draft finally took place in late April, just not in the way fans expected. Held from April 23-25, the draft moved to an online format due to the recent coronavirus pandemic. Broadcasted from ESPN and NFL Network, this was the first-ever virtual draft in league history.
Although in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, the NFL decided to move on with the draft for two primary reasons.
First, there was no guarantee that the social distancing guidelines set in place by the government would change soon. Since the NFL’s teams are dispersed among 22 different states, all states must release their guidelines before teams are allowed to go back to their facilities.
Second, there was an opportunity for great exposure. As most major sports leagues were canceled, holding the NFL draft had the potential to attract many fans who were looking for anything sports-related.
The draft took place with almost every person working from home including the Commissioner of the NFL, Roger Goodell. This required a huge technical effort to ensure that reliable and stable internet connections along with equipment were available for all. All 32 teams were connected through one video conference, which was where picks were announced.
The draft was like other drafts in the fact that all teams conducted mock drafts and consulted with key advisers to make the best picks possible. Picks were made by passing information along directly to league officials. Three individuals from each team were granted the authority to submit picks to avoid potential technical difficulties. Teams were not granted any extra time and received the default time for picks in each round.
Although this method of conducting the draft followed social distancing guidelines, it led to new potential problems, perhaps most notably: hacking. Video conferencing companies such as Zoom reportedly have had hackers access company accounts and more than half a million Zoom accounts have been put up for sale on the dark web as reported by Forbes. This resulted in hacking becoming a legitimate and serious problem as hackers could potentially watch and record team calls and meetings without anyone knowing.
Safer and more secure alternatives to Zoom such as Microsoft Teams were recommended to teams by the NFL, but were not required.
The draft consisted of seven rounds that were split over three days. Rounds were split with round one being on the first day, rounds two and three being on the second day, and rounds four, five, six, and seven being on the last and final day. In total, 255 players were drafted with 32 or more players being picked in each round. Southern California’s local teams, the Los Angeles Rams and the Los Angeles Chargers each made nine and six picks respectively. Although the NFL walked into uncharted territory with the 2020 NFL draft, it was able to successfully maneuver through it and give sports fans long-awaited entertainment. Even with obstacles such as internet connection, hacking and other complications that came with the draft going online, the NFL showed the world and its fans what it was capable of achieving.