The 2020 NFL Draft is less than one week away and things are going to be very strange. Instead of a room full of excited players, patiently waiting to hear their name called before they walk up on stage, the draft will done from a completely remote setting.
Due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, large gatherings like the NFL Draft, have been heavily discouraged, causing the NFL to cancel their usual in-person draft that would have taken place in Las Vegas for the first time ever.
With that in mind, everyone gets to stay at home and teleconference. That includes the players, the commissioner and every NFL teams’ staff members. While a lack of physical interaction can create some difficulties, Las Vegas Raiders general manager Mike Mayock feels he is ready to go.
Mayock has prided himself on drafting players who have a genuine love for the game. While being unable to do physicals and get a sense of how a player moves can be detrimental, Mayock feels at ease. Thanks to Zoom conference calls, Mayock and his team have still been able to gauge players for their passion for football.
According to Kyle Martin of Raiders.com, the Raiders staff has been able to challenge the players through the countless Zoom meetings they have held:
“As far as the process is concerned in this draft, we’ve spent a lot of time on Zoom,” he said. “Our coaches have done an unbelievable job of preparing information to challenge the college player via Zoom. I don’t even know how many we’ve done so far, but it’s been pretty cool spending up to an hour with each of these individual kids and getting to know them that way. From a draft process, we’re all doing it the same way. Nobody has an advantage and the Raiders are 100 percent ready to go, and we’re excited about this draft.”
Although things will be strange, the 2020 NFL Draft should be very exciting for the Raiders. The team has seven picks spread across the first five rounds, including the 12th and 19th overall picks. Last year, Mayock and Gruden were able to bring in some very exciting pieces such as Josh Jacobs and Maxx Crosby. Hopefully this year they can bring in players of a similar caliber as they continue to rebuild their roster.
Mayock stated that the Raiders would be focusing on bringing in quality wide receivers, a problem that stems all the way from Antonio Brown being released before playing a game last year. The Raiders are also predicted to bring in some more talent at corner, although Mayock recently cautioned against drafting solely based on need.
