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Things aren't looking promising for the 2020 NFL Draft from a technical standpoint. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, this year's draft is unlike any other in league history. With social distancing and quarantine rules in place, the event will be held remotely using online using software such as Microsoft Team and Zoom.
However, with the draft set to start on Thursday, the league has started doing walkthroughs to prepare themselves for an unprecedented situation, and it's not going well so far.
Per Dianna Russini of ESPN, several league general managers and coaches have reported technical issues early on in the mock draft. With 32 GMs on a conference call at the same time, the mocks have reportedly been a bit of a mess and the bandwidth has struggled to keep up with the demand.
Text from a GM during this mock draft “there are early communication issues because 32 of us GMs are on conference call and we didn’t hit mute. Sounds awful”
— Dianna Russini (@DMRussini) April 20, 2020
I’m texting with multiple coaches and GM’s who are on this mock draft call and everybody is saying the same thing which is band width is a problem. There are many communication issues.
— Dianna Russini (@DMRussini) April 20, 2020
According to ESPN's Adam Schefter, the problems arose early and often as there was reportedly a technical glitch on the very first pick by the Cincinnati Bengals.
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Text from a participant on the NFL’s mock draft that started at 1 pm EST. “Mock draft today already technical glitch w Cincinnatis 1st pick!!! Brutal.”
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) April 20, 2020
The draft was originally supposed to be held in Las Vegas but for obvious reasons, cannot be held there. Additionally, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell will announce the draft's first-round picks from the basement of his home in Bronxville, New York.
However, while several technical issues arose early during Monday's mock, Russini reports that after the start, things began to run more smoothly.
"After the start, its running smoothly. Its quiet actually on the call"
Text from another Head Coach on mock draft.— Dianna Russini (@DMRussini) April 20, 2020
With the league having to implement a new draft format with such short notice, fans should expect at least a few issues at first while things get worked out prior to Thursday.
