As the entire sports world sits in stasis due to the coronavirus outbreak, the NFL has opted to go ahead with the two-day NFL Draft as scheduled on April 23 and 24, according to an ESPN story by Adam Schefter and Dianna Russini.
The entire world has come to a complete standstill as nations grapple with ways to slow down the extremely contagious COVID-19, but NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell overruled the league's general manager subcommittee per the ESPN story:
“General managers are concerned that, in this current environment, with offseason activities and some teams' facilities closed, there won't be enough time for player physicals, gathering psychological testing, getting further verified information about the players and some teams having to conduct the draft from home. The GM subcommittee voted 6-1 to approve the recommendation, the sources said.”
Certainly, team general managers would understand the dearth of information surrounding prospects heading into the draft due to almost every avenue of American industry shutting down to protect its workers, as they are the ones most familiar with the minutiae of scouting and preparing for the draft.
While a decision to postpone the draft could still come (and it probably should), “the consensus among owners and the league office is for the draft to go on as scheduled,” according to Schefter and Russini’s story.
With April looking as if it’s going to be the toughest month for the fallout from the coronavirus, pushing back the NFL draft would make sense, as having it as planned would likely lead to a PR disaster – which Goodell and the league surely want to avoid.
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