Amid the coronavirus pandemic that continues to impact sports globally, that attendance obviously will be a problem. The NFL is taking its time as it weighs its options regarding the logistics and presentation of the draft. When it comes to how all 32 teams prepare for that draft, though, the league had no time to waste.
2020 NFL MOCK DRAFT:Cowboys, Packers bolster defenses in first round
On Friday, the NFL’s player personnel department sent general managers, coaches and team player personnel directors a memo that prohibits all in-person draft visits until further notice — a restriction that completely changes teams’ college scouting procedures.
Specifically, according to the memo, the following is now prohibited ahead of the 2020 NFL Draft:
Any draft-eligible player traveling to a club facility or other location to meet with club personnel Club personnel traveling to any location, including a college campus to visit with a draft-eligible player
That means NFL team personnel can’t attend Pro Days (although most had already been canceled by the time the league sent the memo). There will be no private workouts for NFL Draft prospects at pro teams’ facilities — not even visits.
The memo did remind teams of their ability to communicate with draft prospects via phone or video conference, but there are new restrictions on those, too.
Below are the restrictions for phone or video calls with 2020 NFL Draft prospects:
Clubs can schedule no more than three telephone or video conferences with an individual draft-eligible player per week Each telephone or video conference can last no longer than one hour Such telephone or video conference cannot be conducted at a time that interferes with the player’s school schedule
According to the memo, “any telephone or video conference must be reported to the player personnel department upon completion, along with the call participants, date, and time of the call, and total lengh of the call.”
For what it’s worth, most NFL teams had already restricted their own pre-draft travel amid the coronavirus outbreak. The league’s memo Friday simply makes such restriction mandatory for all 32 teams.
As for the NFL Draft itself, Raiders owner Mark Davis recently told the Dallas Morning News the league is monitoring the coronavirus situation closely.
“The league office, the (NFL) Players Association and the city and the state are working together,” Davis said. “They’re making a measured decision. Health and safety will always be No. 1."
MORE: Should NFL delay start of free agency?
As a result of the coronavirus outbreak, many NFL teams have closed their own facilities and told employees to work from home. ESPN’s Adam Schefter notes that factor will make it “challenging at best to start the new league year next week, when buildings are closed and more pressing issues face their communities and this country.”
The 2020 league year and free agency is expected to start as planned, but a league source told Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio on Thursday that the NFL is “contemplating the possibility” of announcing Sunday a delay to the start of free agency.
The legal tampering period for soon-to-be free agents to talk with teams is scheduled to begin Monday, March 16, with the official start of 2020 free agency set to begin two days later on March 18.
