What Will this Purposed Virtual 2020 NFL Draft Look Like?

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Have you ever seen one of the Bucs Report shows where Peter H. Blake is operating the board like Dr. Dre? Moving guests into the “waiting room” and then on and off the live show. That’s how you do that in a 2020, COVID-19 inspired NFL Draft.

Just like an episode of Around The Horn on ESPN. Because every person will be streaming in from a different location, it will take a producer or production team worth their salt, to pull it off. Will NFL fans buy in? Did you see all the coverage of Tom Brady signing with the Bucs? Yeah, they will buy whatever the NFL is selling.

Should the Draft Continue as Planned

Bucs Report’s own Nick Sitro took part in a conference call with Mel Kiper a little while back. The call itself can be heard (here). The question regarding this years draft was asked by Jason Liesere, Chicago Sun Times. It can be heard at the 13:26 minute mark. The reporter asked Kiper whether he thinks they should postpone the draft? Kiper responds, 

“Everybody needs normalcy to set in. Free agency went along as scheduled even though everything wasn’t perfect.” Kiper continues, “the draft can be done, obviously without having everybody together.”

What Will the Team Interns Have to do

Continuing his response to the draft question, Kiper stated;

“no teams go to the draft anyway.”

That statement is quite true. In fact, Buccaneer fans may remember the botched 1982 NFL Draft. It was team equipment manager Pat Marcuccillo who was chosen to represent the team at the draft. In a great story by Don Banks of Sports Illustrated (read here), some technology, rowdy fans and a little bad luck put the Buccaneers on the “worst botched draft pick” map.

In the past, team brass has been in the war room adjusting, tinkering with and updating their draft boards as each pick comes in. There have been representatives on hand to hand out team hats and jerseys to the players selected. But these days, it is the call that comes in from the war room.

Unless it’s Not the War Room

At last years draft, Buccaneer fans experienced the most wonderful of treats. Buccaneers fan Kacey Reynolds read off the selection of Devin White in Tennessee. The Bucs fan who lost his three year battle with Hodgkin Lymphoma in February made every Buccaneers fans heart melt with his outstanding representation.

Thank You, Kacey.

Final Analysis

With the 2020 draft tentatively scheduled in just under a month, there are a lot of logistics to consider. The teams will need secure communication to first build, then adjust a big board on the day of the event. The NFL will need to accommodate for communications with each and every team, the national media, and their own league officials. Then there is all of the logistics to how they will feed the product to the hungry NFL public. There are a lot of things to get right before considering carrying the draft on as planned.

Then again. If Peter H. Blake can do it….

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