The NFL is supposed to have a draft less than a month from now. But, if the league’s general managers have their way, it won’t be on scheduled day of April 23rd.
General managers subcommittee has unanimously recommended to commissioner Roger Goodell to push back the start of the draft, ESPN’s Adam Schefter and Dianna Russini reported on Tuesday.
“General managers are concerned that, in this current environment, with offseason activities and some teams’ facilities closed, there won’t be enough time for player physicals, gathering psychological testing, getting further verified information about the players and some teams having to conduct the draft from home.
League sources have said it would be a competitive disadvantage to have some teams in their training facilities during the draft while teams in California, New Jersey and other hard-hit areas would be in lockdown and unable to be in their teams’ buildings.”
As of right now, the draft is still scheduled to go on as planned, but not in Las Vegas as previously planned. The city of Las Vegas has effectively been shutdown for 30 days to help slow the spread of the coronavirus.
“I think a lot of owners aren’t sold on keeping it on schedule,” one league source said. “Of course the power owners are calling the shots. Plus, add to the fact that April is going to be the toughest month with this virus. It’s really a poor look.”
