Due to concerns over the coronavirus pandemic, the NFL decided that this year’s draft will take place in a virtual format. This was confirmed by league’s commissioner Roger Goodell in a memo sent to all 32 NFL teams on Monday.
The 2020 NFL Draft was set to take place between April 23rd and April 25th in Las Vegas, but the ongoing health crisis made it unlikely for the event to take place. The league strongly considered postponing the draft, but ended up deciding to take things into the virtual world in order not to affect the season timeline.
According to the memo, the teams and their personnel are advised to do follow the process from their homes and not to gather in team facilities.
“We have reviewed this matter in the past few days with both the competition committee and CEC [a group of league executives], and this will confirm that clubs will conduct their draft operations remotely, with club personnel separately located in their homes,” Goodell wrote in the memo.
The league decided to close all facilities of NFL teams on March 26th because of the coronavirus, and the teams were told that the decision will stand until the conditions for their reopening are met.
“We will reopen facilities when it is safe to do so based on medical and public health advice and in compliance with government mandates,” Goodell added.
In recent weeks, the teams were forced to get creative when it comes to evaluating the 2020 draft class. This includes extended tape analysis and hosting the players for virtual interviews.
