The NFL coaches and GMs wanted the NFL Draft pushed back due to the impacts of the COVID-19
\npandemic. Commissioner Goodell and the Players Association kept the draft as scheduled. With major
\nchanges. Goodell didn\u2019t want to pass on the exclusive opportunity to have the draft conducted while we
\nsports fans are starved for any type of programming. Prime time exclusive limelight!<\/p>\n
This decision, combined with the decision to close all team facilities, is wreaking havoc on the teams
\nability to prepare for the draft. Gone are the 30 Visits each team gets to bring prospects in for
\nworkouts, interviews and medical checks. Gone are the Pro Days where scouts got a 2nd chance to
\nreview or validate performances at the Combine. Worse off, those prospects that didn\u2019t get invited to
\nthe combine. This was their opportunity to shine. No private workouts by members of the coaching
\nstaff.<\/p>\n
According to Albert Breer of SI.com, teams will be heavily relying on the work their college scouts have
\ndone. The boots on the ground, checking the backgrounds, talking to trainers etc. Teams that have built
\nup relationships with College coaches will have a huge advantage. A phone call here and there to verify
\ninfo or questions they have about a player will be invaluable.<\/p>\n
Those 30 visits are now being replaced by video interviews. They are using Zoom (I didn\u2019t even know
\nwhat Zoom was three weeks ago) to conduct these now. Each team can have three 1 hour video chats
\nwith prospect per week. Some teams have had over 100, and others are just starting.<\/p>\n
How do they build their Draft Boards if they can\u2019t sit around a room and discuss prospects? Video
\nconferencing can only go so far. They can\u2019t pull up a video and dissect the performance. The Patriots,
\ncan operate without because of the extensive scouting they do and the rigid system they use to grade
\nprospects. This group has been doing it this way for 21 years. A lot of these other teams and head
\ncoaches\/ GMs are on the hotseat and don\u2019t have the luxury of being established like BB and the Patriots.
\nTheir decisions are made for the present to keep their jobs. According to Michael Holly\u2019s War Room
\nabout the Patriots drafting, the Patriots will only have 6-7 people (excluding the owner) in their draft
\nroom. No scouts \u2026 their work is done when the team sets the Draft Board. The Patriots Draft Board
\nonly has 75 or so names on it. Ernie Adams will be calculating the trade chart values, Nick Caserio, Josh
\nMcDaniel, Bob and Jonathan Kraft, Monti Ossenfort, Dave Ziegler and Brian Smith will likely be it.
\nSome will be working the phones for trades, others will pull up the latest college scouting reports.<\/p>\n
Another area of concern is Information Technology. Every team has sophisticated IT systems in their
\nbuildings but now these video conferences must be conducted on home systems. I don\u2019t care how fast
\nyour High Speed Internet is, it doesn\u2019t have the capacity for viewing these large video files and conduct
\nthe video conference too.<\/p>\n
The last point I want to talk about is a point brought up by Greg Bedard of Boston Sports Journal. He
\ntalks about the Patriots punting this draft for two reasons. First, the uncertainty of those Day 3
\nselections. The Patriots may not have had sufficient data on these players (ie; Ben Bartch OT St John
\n(MN) Dlll who had a knee injury and didn\u2019t participate in the on field drills at the combine). Brdard
\nthinks there is only 4-5 spots available on the roster as its currently constituted. I think that\u2019s wrong.
\nIt\u2019s probably more like 7-10 spots when you delete players like Dietrich Wise, Mohammed Sanu, Rex
\nBurkhead, Marcus Cannon and Patrick Chung. Wise because of his ability and the last four because of
\nsalary cap issues (they may be retained if willing to take a pay cut and re-do their contracts). Some feel
\nteams will only concentrate on the 1 st four rounds and punt the rest into next year. However, you must<\/p>\n
find trade partners to do that. BB likes to move up and down the draft board to take players he likes.
\nHe may not be able to do that this year. Who in the league is going to want to help the Patriots, with
\nchance to step on their necks in what might be considered a down or re-building year.<\/p>\n
The Draft is always unpredictable, but this year might just be the craziest!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Roger Goodell didn\u2019t want to pass on the exclusive opportunity to have the draft conducted while we
\nsports fans are starved for any type of programming. This decision, combined with the decision to close all team facilities, is wreaking havoc on the teams ability to prepare for the draft.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":4857,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2281],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27876","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2020-patriots-draft"],"yoast_head":"\n