With all team facilities closed and large gatherings banned in most states to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, the NFL will hold its first — and, the league surely hopes, only — virtual draft later this month.
In addition to the various technical issues that could arise as decision-makers engage in potentially franchise-altering conversations over video chat, Jim Nagy pointed out another way the online nature of this draft will complicate matters for NFL teams.
Nagy, a former New England Patriots scout who now runs the Senior Bowl, explained Wednesday on Twitter that this year’s disparate setup will exacerbate the already chaotic process of teams scrambling to fill out their 90-man rosters with undrafted free agents after the draft concludes.
Most undrafted players who sign with teams do so within hours or even minutes of the final pick, and the inability of teams to have all of their scouts and assistant coaches congregated in one location will make coordinating these signings exponentially more difficult, Nagy said.
The draft room is the control center. GM, head coach, salary cap manager, and director level guys are located here.
Scouts are dispatched to various assistant coaches offices to make recruiting calls and then report back to the draft room once they get a player committed…
— Jim Nagy (@JimNagy_SB) April 8, 2020
If you need 2 RB then scouts/ass’t coaches will start calling the top 4-5 ranked players AND their agents. If the top 4-5 RBs all come from different parts of the country that will require all the various area scouts from those assigned regions to be involved in those calls.
— Jim Nagy (@JimNagy_SB) April 8, 2020
Scouts are usually given a set negotiating range/limit for each particular player’s signing bonus, which is the most critical piece of these negotiations. Once a scout/player/agent come to an agreement and get a commitment, the scout goes back to draft room to report it…
— Jim Nagy (@JimNagy_SB) April 8, 2020
Because your team is recruiting/negotiating with 4 RBs for only 2 spots, many times multiple scouts will consummate deals in different offices at the same time. In that scenario, teams find themselves in situations where they have overcommitted and have to drop a player.
— Jim Nagy (@JimNagy_SB) April 8, 2020
Apologies for long thread but this is just one scenario that creates chaos in UDFA. All parties are in competitive time crunch to make deals and you’re dealing with players/agents who are emotional after not getting drafted.
— Jim Nagy (@JimNagy_SB) April 8, 2020
This post doesn’t do the adrenaline/stress/chaos of the UDFA process justice, as anyone that has been thru it on the team, player, or agent side will attest. Simply do not see how this process is conducted virtually.
— Jim Nagy (@JimNagy_SB) April 8, 2020
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Nagy also backed Pittsburgh Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert’s proposal to expand this year’s draft from seven rounds to 10, believing it would go a long way toward easing UFDA-related stress. It’s unclear whether the NFL would consider such a change.
This is actually a smart, outside-the-box proposal by Kevin Colbert. Undrafted free agency is mass chaos with all scouts and coaches in the same building and there’s no good “virtual” solution. Eliminate UDFA for one year and draft another 200+ players. Makes complete sense. https://t.co/bgEcLZiivs
— Jim Nagy (@JimNagy_SB) April 8, 2020
Draft-room issues aside, the league’s coronavirus precautions already have made identifying potential late-round or undrafted targets much trickier.
The majority of college pro days were canceled, resulting in incomplete athletic profiles for most players who either weren’t invited to the NFL Scouting Combine or didn’t participate in combine drills, and teams are prohibited from meeting with or working out prospects. All pre-draft contact between teams and players must take place over phone or video calls.
Traditionally, the Patriots have been one of the NFL’s best teams at unearthing undrafted gems. At least one undrafted player has made their initial 53-man roster in each of the last 16 seasons, the third-longest streak behind the Los Angeles Chargers (23 seasons) and Indianapolis Colts (21).
That list includes the likes of Malcolm Butler, David Andrews, Jonathan Jones, J.C. Jackson, Adam Butler, Brandon Bolden, Ryan Allen, Jacob Hollister and Brian Hoyer. Receivers Jakobi Meyers and Gunner Olszewski both made the teams as UDFAs in 2019.
