Will Virtual Draft Impact Howie Roseman?

We’re all invited to Roger Goodell’s basement for the 2020 NFL Draft.

No booing is permitted. OK, booing is allowed.

The NFL commissioner won’t hear you, though, because he will be self-quarantining at his home in Bronxville, N.Y., conducting the first-of-its-kind virtual draft next week all by his lonesome.

Goodell will be just like every general manager over the course of the three-day draft – alone in a room.

Oh, there will be flickering images of scouts and coaches via zoom or skype or whatever technological plug-in is available.

There will be 58 college prospects flitting in and out, too. The NFL mailed them cameras to record their reactions as they sit and wait to hear their names called in either the first or second rounds then their reactions when their names are called – by Goodell in his basement.

Originally scheduled to be held in Las Vegas, until the spread of coronavirus pandemics thwarted that idea, the draft will be shown by NFL Network and ESPN as the networks work together to produce the broadcast over three days, from April 23-25.

Draft hosts and a limited number of commentators will be in-studio, but they will adhere to social distancing guidelines. Other reporters and analysts will report remotely from home.

The NFL released its protocol for the 2020 offseason program on Monday, including plans for the virtual period beginning on April 20: https://t.co/pxhcVon0y5
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) April 13, 2020

There is no doubt this will be a draft for the history books, one that will be looked back upon as the decades pile up, and the world returns to whatever the new normal looks like when the coronavirus pandemic is in the rearview mirror.

How will it be remembered for the Eagles?

It won’t be much longer before we can begin formulating our opinions.

Usually the Eagles war room is a dozen or more members gathered around a conference table in one of the upstairs offices at the NovaCare Complex in South Philly.

Not this year.

Howie Roseman will get input from his team remotely. Ultimately, the GM will be the triggerman on the Eagles picks, of which they have eight.

Isolation can do strange things to one’s brain. Roseman won’t be totally isolated, of course, but he will be in a room alone.

Roseman has a tendency to get antsy during a draft. He has made first-round trades in two straight years, moving up three spots last year and trading out of the first round in 2018.

In 2016, after he vaulted up the draft board with two different trades in the days leading up taking quarterback Carson Wentz with the second overall pick, Roseman had to sit on his hands before making another selection.

Roseman took Wentz second then had to watch 77 players come off the board until he could make another pick, taking Isaac Seumalo at No. 79. The GM admitted that resisting the temptation to somehow find a way to get another pick in during that drought was difficult, that he had to leave the war room to take walks to take his mind off what was happening.

What might Roseman do in the opening round on April 23?

Trade up?

Trade back?

Draft a receiver?

Somebody else?

I don't expect he will be much different. He wll try to be aggressive in order to find ways to imrpove the roster, and it is my belief that Roseman won’t sit at 21. It’s also my belief he won’t move up, but trade back.

It’s time to forget about drafting one of the big three receivers. Henry Ruggs, Jerry Jeudy, and CeeDee Lamb will be gone, maybe even before the draft reaches the 49ers at pick 13.

Remember 2017? Three receivers went in the top 10 – Corey Davis fifth to the Titans, Mike Williams seventh to the Chargers, and Jon Ross ninth to the Bengals – and those three probably had lower evaluations than these three.

It might even be time to forget about drafting any receiver at all in the first round and wait until the second round to grab one.

Whatever Roseman decides to do will be either booed or cheered, and probably right after the pick is announced.

Like Goodell, Roseman won’t hear you, though.