Monday's virtual NFL mock draft raises serious concerns
While the NFL has largely conducted business as usual during the coronavirus pandemic since the middle of March, the league was forced to change this year's draft to a virtual player-selection process with general managers and other team executives working from home.
On Monday afternoon, the league conducted a virtual mock draft to test things out. It was far from a flawless process.
ESPN's Field Yates explained the NFL's intentions earlier in the day:
Fellow ESPN employees Adam Schefter and Dianna Russini reported that glitches and other issues disrupted the virtual mock NFL Draft:
On April 16, Gary Gramling of Sports Illustrated wrote about how vulnerable the actual virtual draft is destined to be for would-be hackers. Weeks ago, Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh addressed the security of team and league Zoom meetings.
"It's a big concern," Harbaugh said during the Ravens' pre-draft news conference. "Hopefully we'll be OK. I really wouldn't want the opposing coaches to have our playbook or our draft meetings. That would be preferable, if we can stay away from that."
As much as sports fans will watch Thursday's virtual NFL Draft because they're yearning for any new and relevant content, some will tune in expecting and hoping for car-crash glitches and miscues that will be remembered long after the current pandemic ends.
ABC, ESPN, and NFL Network will air the NFL Draft starting Thursday night at 8 pm ET.
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