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The 2020 NFL Draft takes place this week. This year’s draft will look a little different, with representatives from all 32 teams making their selections remotely due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Because of the unusual times, the NFL held a virtual mock draft on Monday, April 20 to test out its technology.
There was a technical glitch early on in the process, according to Denver Broncos general manager John Elway. However, after the early glitch, things went smoothly.
“The draft went smooth,” Elway said, via Nicki Jhabvala of TheAthletic.com. “It got off to a little bit of a hiccup when we first started, but other than that it went really smooth. There were really no problems with it, so we got more comfortable with it. It should be fine to go on without a glitch. I’m sure there will be a couple of glitches here and there, but actually for the first time I thought it went pretty well.”
It is going to be interesting to see how things go this weekend.
Going virtual is just the latest change in the NFL Draft since the league decided to take its show on the road. Las Vegas had edged out bids from cities like Denver, Kansas City, Nashville, and Cleveland/Canton to host this year’s draft from April 23 to April 25 before the last-minute changes.
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In recent years, the NFL has strayed from tradition and moved the draft out of New York City, where it had been held for years.
In 2015, the NFL Draft moved to Chicago, Illinois which marked the first time since 1965 that the draft was held outside of New York City. It was held at Auditorium Theatre in Grant Part which marked the first draft to feature an outdoor component. The draft returned to Chicago in 2016 after the great reception a year prior. In 2017, the draft shifted to Philadelphia where it was held on the iconic Rocky Steps outside of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. It was the most attended draft in NFL history with more than 250,000 fans.
Then, in 2018, the draft was held at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas and it marked more NFL first’s. It was the first time in history that the draft was held in the state of Texas, while also being the first draft to take place in an NFL stadium. The 2019 NFL Draft was held in Nashville, Tennessee.
