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Have you ever been to Westchester County, New York? No? Well you’re in luck, because in 1 week, the NFL is taking you into Commissioner Roger Goodell’s personal residence for the 2020 NFL Draft. It’s hard to envision a fully digital draft, because it’s never happened before, but heeeeeere we go.
When and where
Thursday, April 23, 2020, 8 PM eastern: Round 1
Friday, April 24, 2020, 7 PM eastern: Round 2-3
Saturday, April 25, 2020, 12 PM eastern: Rounds 4-7
Each team has 10 minutes per pick in the first round. That then shrinks to 7 minutes in the 2nd round, 5 minutes in the 3rd through 6th rounds, and 4 minutes in the 7th round. It’ll be interesting to see how they fill time without a traditional panel of “experts” to keep us occupied between picks.
ABC, ESPN, and NFL Network will be showing the draft in its entirety. You can also hop on the NFL or ESPN apps, if you’re into that kind of thing.
Falcons picks
1st round: 16th pick
2nd round: 15th pick
3rd round: 14th pick
4th round: 13th pick
4th round: 37th pick
7th round: 14 pick
But ... how will this work?
58 prospects have agreed to participate in this process. They will make their appearances digitally, just like everyone else. The same is true for head coaches and GMs, who themselves will make occasional appearances throughout the broadcast. (I won’t be heartbroken if they catch Thomas Dimitroff with a finger up his nose.)
Each team has a designated “decision maker.” A single IT professional is allowed to keep the “decision maker” company. And to make sure everything runs smoothly, the league has apparently organized a mock draft for early next week. Because this is all being run through a single Microsoft app, hacks or mishaps are plausible, although I’m sure the NFL has some tech saavy folks working incessantly to make sure that doesn’t happen. Right? Right?!
Your thoughts, Falcoholics?