VIDEO: 'Protecting the Nest' Atlanta Falcons & COVID-19: NFL eyeing virtual draft

Falcon Report's 'Protecting the Nest' Atlanta Falcons & COVID-19 is back for its third week. Every Wednesday, our video covers the latest impacts the coronavirus is having on the Falcons and the NFL.

There are countless NFL mock drafts published in the months prior to the NFL draft every year. On Monday, the NFL ran through its own "mock" to prepare for the league's first ever virtual draft.

After an early "technical glitch," everything with the practice draft went perfectly fine according to Denver Broncos general manager John Elway.

"The draft went smooth," Elway told Nicki Jhabvala of The Athletic. "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."

ESPN's Dianna Russini reported on the early technical glitch in real time Monday afternoon, saying there was a problem with the bandwidth.

I’m texting with multiple coaches and GM’s who are on this mock draft call and everybody is saying the same thing which is band width is a problem. There are many communication issues.
— Dianna Russini (@DMRussini) April 20, 2020

Still, it's great to hear the league was able to figure out the issues and that the rest of the dry run went well.

The first round of the 2020 NFL Draft will begin Thursday night at 8 pm ET. It will air on ESPN and NFL Network as usual, but the first round will also be available on ABC. As is the case every year, the second and third rounds will be Friday night while rounds No. 4-7 will take place Saturday afternoon.

The entire sports world is counting on the 2020 NFL Draft running "smoothly," especially on its opening night. The first round of the 2019 NFL Draft drew more than 11 million viewers last year, and it may be considerably more with nothing else on the American sports calendar for the foreseeable future. Sports fans in the United States haven't seen a live sporting event since March 11.

As of Tuesday night, more than 43,000 people have died in the United States from COVID-19. To stop the spread of the coronavirus, follow the CDC guidelines.

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