Could NFL Add Three Rounds To 2020 Draft Due To Coronavirus Limitations?

At least one NFL general manager reportedly wants to expand the 2020 NFL Draft to 10 rounds.

Pittsburgh Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert expressed his desire to tack on three extra rounds to the 2020 NFL Draft in a conference call recently, sources told the New York Daily News’ Manish Mehta on Tuesday.

Most pro days and in-facility prospect visits were canceled this spring because of the coronavirus pandemic. There is little to no measurable data on prospects who weren’t invited to the NFL Scouting Combine this year. Most undrafted free agents are non-combine invitees.

Per Mehta, Colbert wants each team to receive three additional picks “because he believes that teams will be prone to more mistakes without the additional evaluation time. Colbert’s stance is that a 10-round draft would widen a club’s margin for error.”

Former New England Patriots scout and current senior director of the Senior Bowl, Jim Nagy, is on board with the idea. And he would actually like to expand it even further.

“This is actually a smart, outside-the-box proposal by Kevin Colbert,” Nagy tweeted. “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.”

As someone who loves conducting mock drafts, three or more extra rounds sounds great. Some undrafted free agents like to be able to pick their destination and receive more money than seventh-round picks, however, so the idea would have to be OK’d by the NFL and the NFL Players Association.

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