Report: NFL working on technological safeguards for draft

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The NFL is going "fully virtual" for the 2020 draft, and the decision comes with significant logistical obstacles.

One of the main issues will be any technical difficulties that arise. To protect teams from missing picks or not having sufficient time to make trades, the NFL is working on technological safeguards and will conduct multiple test runs of the system, a source told ESPN's Dan Graziano.

The league will reportedly host a 32-team conference call, which will be ongoing throughout the draft. Teams will be able to use this or email to make their picks if they have technical difficulties doing so online.

However, the NFL isn't interested in allowing teams to take timeouts or expanding the draft by three more rounds, added Graziano. Pittsburgh Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert reportedly proposed the latter idea Tuesday.

Goodell announced Monday that team personnel must conduct the draft separately in their own homes because of shelter-in-place orders stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic.

That may bring its own issues. Some coaches and front-office staffers are concerned about allowing IT employees into their residences to set up their systems for the draft during the coronavirus pandemic, ESPN's Adam Schefter reports.

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