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2020 NFL Draft News & Rumors

NFL Orders Teams To Close Facilities

March 24th, 2020 at 8:33pm CST by Rory Parks

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, commissioner Roger Goodell issued a memo to all 32 teams tonight mandating that they close their facilities by 6pm tomorrow, March 25, as Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network reports (via Twitter). The full memo can be found here.

Of course, many teams had already closed up shop, and others had limited personnel at their facilities. We heard earlier tonight that the league was going to look into the matter to determine if the teams that remained “open” were gaining a competitive advantage, and Goodell ultimately decided that closing headquarters was for the best.

Importantly, teams remain free to conduct all normal business operations, including signing free agents. The league will reevaluate the situation on April 8.

As we know, the decision to move forward with free agency upset some execs, and the league’s plans to hold the draft from April 23-25 as normal is also being met with resistance. Per Adam Schefter and Dianna Russini of ESPN.com, the general manager subcommittee unanimously recommended to Goodell that the draft be moved back, but Goodell has not made any changes as of yet.

The desire to reschedule the draft makes plenty of sense. After all, with teams unable to visit with prospects, give them physicals, etc., they will be unable to make fully-informed decisions when the draft rolls around. And clubs in states that have been hit hardest by the coronavirus may still be on lockdown on April 23 and therefore could not be at their facilities for the draft.

The situation remains fluid, and it would not be a surprise to see Goodell reverse course at some point. As one league source told Schefter and Russini, “I think a lot of owners aren’t sold on keeping it on schedule. Of course the power owners are calling the shots. Plus, add to the fact that April is going to be the toughest month with this virus. It’s really a poor look.”

Latest On 2020 Draft

March 22nd, 2020 at 8:52am CST by Rory Parks

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, there will be no draft-related events of any kind in Las Vegas next month. Although the draft remains scheduled for April 23-25, Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times reports that the selections will be broadcast from a studio setting with cut-ins from the headquarters of the teams on the clock.

We heard last week that the league had canceled public events in Las Vegas, but it was unclear whether the draft would still proceed in some smaller scale fashion in Sin City. We speculated that the process would take place remotely via video conferencing, and that now seems to be the case.

Of course, one of the most exciting parts of the draft, for players and fans alike, is commissioner Roger Goodell‘s announcement of each first-round selection, followed by that player’s walk to the stage — assuming that player was invited to the event and elected to attend — to greet Goodell and receive his new jersey. As no one knows what travel restrictions will look like next month, it remains to be seen if the league will attempt to bring in this year’s top prospects in an effort to simulate the usual pomp and circumstance.

Farmer obtained a memo from Goodell to league employees with respect to the decision, which reads in part as follows:

“Planning for the Draft is a good example of how we need to think differently, embrace technology and collaborate. We will also use the Draft to help support fans and those people impacted in our communities. While there have been changes to the way we work and some of our plans, we have an unwavering commitment to upholding the NFL’s legacy of unifying and lifting the spirit of America, and bringing out the best in our fans and in our communities around the world. You’ll hear more from us in the days and weeks ahead about how we intend to demonstrate that commitment well beyond our fields.”

Dolphins Tried To Host Tua On Visit

March 19th, 2020 at 2:29pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Dolphins did some last-minute work before the NFL banned pre-draft visits, hosting Jordan Love and J.K. Dobbins. But the team wanted a higher-profile player to come in for a meeting.

Linked to Tua Tagovailoa for over a year now, the Dolphins tried to bring in the Alabama prospect for a pre-draft visit last week, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com reports. In fact, the former Crimson Tide superstar was the Dolphins’ first call, but Rapoport adds the logistics for a Tagovailoa Miami trek did not line up before the league nixed visits.

COVID-19 prompted the NFL put the kibosh on pre-draft meetings and workouts last Friday; the Dolphins had Love and Dobbins in their facility earlier that day. The Dolphins, who hold the No. 5 overall pick, wanted additional information on Tagovailoa’s surgically repaired hip, Rapoport adds.

Tagovailoa and Justin Herbert were on Miami’s radar over a year ago, and the team wants to end up with one of these two passers. The Dolphins will still try to trade up for Joe Burrow, however. While the Dolphins may need to keep tabs on the Chargers in their race for a quarterback, they are fully expected to end up with Tagovailoa or Herbert come April.

NFL Draft Still Set For April 23

March 16th, 2020 at 10:21am CST by Zachary Links

The NFL will proceed with the 2020 draft on April 23-25, Mike Garafolo of NFL.com tweets. However, the league has 86’d public events in Las Vegas and is exploring “innovative ways for how the process will be conducted,” Garafolo hears. The league has since confirmed the measure via press release.

“This decision reflects our foremost priority – the health and safety of all fans and citizens,” said Roger Goodell in a statement. “While this outcome is disappointing both to the NFL and to the Las Vegas community, we look forward to partnering with the Raiders, the City of Las Vegas, and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority for a future NFL Draft as well as evaluating other opportunities for other major NFL events in Las Vegas in the future, including the Super Bowl.”

Even without fans involved, it’s hard to imagine the league conducting the draft in its traditional fashion with thousands of executives, league officials, and players gathering in one place. Instead, the most likely outcome – we imagine – would see the entire process take place remotely via video conferencing.

Already, the NFL has moved to cancel pre-draft visits. The entire sporting world has taken similar steps, with a few exceptions. The UFC is one outlier – they still plan to hold their scheduled events over the next few weeks, with an eye on using their own Apex training center (also in Las Vegas) for at least some of them. The Nevada State Athletic Commission may block those plans, leaving the last North American sport to consider Native American reservations and other alternatives, if they stay the course.

NFL Cancels Pre-Draft Visits

March 13th, 2020 at 2:01pm CST by Sam Robinson

After the other major American sports made historic changes to their schedules this week, the NFL will follow suit. The league canceled further pre-draft visits, per an announcement.

Teams are no longer permitted to host prospects at their facilities or on campus sites. This will halt teams from venturing to prospects’ pro days leading up to the 2020 draft. That process had barely begun, with few reported visits and workouts having taken place. But teams now must make major adjustments.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, NFL teams were steadily taking coaches and scouts off the road. More than 20 did so by Friday afternoon. The Dolphins, however, hosted Ohio State running back J.K. Dobbins at their facility and brought in Utah State quarterback Jordan Love in for a last-minute visit well, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com reports (on Twitter). Just as the Dolphins moved up their Dobbins summit by a month, they moved up Love’s visit.

These will be the last meetings of this sort leading up to this draft, as the NFL becomes the latest major sports league to make coronavirus-related changes.

Teams will still be permitted to speak with prospects, but they must do so via phone calls and video conferences. These calls cannot last more than an hour, and no team can contact a prospect more than three times in one week. Violations of this rule change will be subject to league discipline.

This will obviously transform the pre-draft process. As of now, the draft remains scheduled to start April 23 in Las Vegas. But the league is considering changes. Given that hundreds of thousands of fans have flocked to this event since it was moved out of Radio City Music Hall and into other NFL markets, such an environment taking place this year may be a non-starter. But no firm announcement has been made regarding the draft or a delay to the free agency window. However, the league is considering adjusting that part of its calendar as well.

Dolphins Hosting RB J.K. Dobbins On Visit

March 13th, 2020 at 10:00am CST by Sam Robinson

While the COVID-19 virus has wreaked havoc across the American sports world, some NFL teams are still conducting visits. The Dolphins are one of them, and they did some rescheduling to make sure they could meet with Ohio State’s J.K. Dobbins.

Dobbins is at the Dolphins’ facility on Friday for a pre-draft visit, per Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter link). The former Buckeyes standout was not supposed to visit the Dolphins until mid-April, but Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald notes (via Twitter) the team is high enough on Dobbins they moved up his meeting by around a month in the event the NFL cancels pre-draft visits because of coronavirus.

Although Rapoport notes Miami is proceeding with “extreme caution,” it would not be a surprise to see the league nix pre-draft summits considering the actions taken by the sports leagues currently in-season. Dobbins also did not fly to this workout, with Rapoport adding the running back has been training in south Florida (Twitter link).

Miami will enter free agency with a bevy of needs; one of them is clearly at running back. The Dolphins traded Kenyan Drake last season and subsequently released Mark Walton after yet another arrest. No obvious starter resides on Miami’s roster, so the Dolphins should be expected to acquire at least one starting-caliber back this offseason.

Dobbins would profile as such. He posted three straight 1,000-yard seasons at Ohio State. In 2019, he eclipsed 2,000 yards and totaled 23 touchdowns. Dobbins ranks as the No. 40 overall prospect, per NFL.com’s Daniel Jeremiah, who tabs him as this draft class’ No. 4-ranked running back.

In Response To COVID-19, NFL Discussing Adjustments To Draft

March 12th, 2020 at 8:47am CST by Zachary Links

In the wake of the global COVID-19 pandemic, the NFL is considering potential changes to the upcoming NFL Draft, as Michael Gehlken of the Dallas News writes. As of this writing, the draft is slated to take place in Las Vegas from April 23-25. 

On Wednesday night, the NBA suspended its season shortly after learning that Jazz center Rudy Gobert had tested positive for the coronavirus. The unprecedented move has many calling for the NFL to take similar measures with the draft, free agency, and other major league milestones on the horizon.

“The league office, the players association and the city and the state are working together,” Raiders owner Mark Davis told Gehlken in a phone interview on Wednesday. “They’re making a measured decision. Health and safety will always be No. 1.”

The draft is one of many face-to-face large scale conferences on the league’s calendar. In just a few weeks, for example, the annual owners meetings are set to take place. Beyond that, the NFL offseason calls for countless flights, meetings, and workouts. Hours after the NBA paused its season and the United States announced a ban on most travel to Europe, it’s hard to imagine the NFL going about business as usual.

For the draft, the NFL may scale back or eliminate fan attendance entirely. There has also been speculation that the draft could take place entirely via teleconference

“They’ll make the correct decision,” Davis told Gehlken. “They won’t put anyone in jeopardy over it.”

LB Kenneth Murray To Meet With 15 Teams

March 11th, 2020 at 8:05pm CST by Ben Levine

Kenneth Murray is a popular man. The Oklahoma linebacker told NFL.com’s James Palmer that he’s set to meet with 15 teams in the coming weeks (via Charean Williams of ProFootballTalk.com).

Murray revealed that he’ll start his workout circuit with the Texans on March 18th before having visits “back-to-back-to-back.” The Ravens, Raiders, Cowboys and Cardinals are among the teams that the linebacker is expected to meet with.

After earning a second-team All-Big 12 nod in 2018, Murray got first-team recognition following a standout 2019 campaign. The junior finished the season with 102 tackles, four sacks, and four passes defended.

Murray is in contention to be the second linebacker off the board after Clemson’s Isaiah Simmons, and he could be selected as early as midway through the first round. He didn’t participate in Oklahoma’s pro day today after having tweaked his hamstring during the 40-yard dash at the Combine. Fortunately, he told Palmer that he’s almost back to full health.

“The hamstring is doing good,” Murray told Palmer. “I’ll be fully healthy in a couple of days.”

NFL Announces Compensatory Picks For 2020 Draft

March 10th, 2020 at 4:15pm CST by Sam Robinson

The NFL has awarded compensatory draft picks for teams in the 2020 draft.

These picks are awarded to the teams that suffered the most significant free agent losses during the 2019 offseason. This year, the Patriots top the list (shared below) with a league-high four picks.

The comp pick formula assigns picks who suffered the largest net losses, so teams that signed multiple free agents have a lesser chance of receiving picks. The Ravens collected two this year and remain in the all-time lead (from 1994-2020) with 52. No other franchise has accumulated more than 43 compensatory picks.

Here’s the full breakdown, by round and by team:

By Round:

Round 3: Texans (No. 97 overall), Patriots (98), Giants (99), Patriots (100), Seahawks (101), Steelers (102), Eagles (103), Rams (104), Vikings (105), Ravens (106)

Round 4: Buccaneers (No. 139), Bears (140), Dolphins (141), Redskins (142), Ravens (143), Seahawks (144), Eagles (145), Eagles (146)

Round 5: Broncos (No. 178), Cowboys (179)

Round 6: Patriots (No. 212), Patriots (213), Seahawks (214)

Round 7: Giants (No. 247), Texans (248), Vikings (249), Texans (250), Dolphins (251), Broncos (252), Vikings (253), Broncos (254), Giants (255)

By Team:

  • New England Patriots (4)
  • Denver Broncos (3)
  • Houston Texans (3)
  • Minnesota Vikings (3)
  • New York Giants (3)
  • Philadelphia Eagles (3)
  • Baltimore Ravens (2)
  • Miami Dolphins (2)
  • Chicago Bears (1)
  • Dallas Cowboys (1)
  • Los Angeles Rams (1)
  • Pittsburgh Steelers (1)
  • Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1)
  • Washington Redskins (1)

The compensatory free agents lost and gained in 2019 by the clubs that will receive compensatory picks in the 2020 draft:

Extra Points: Tagovailoa, CBA, Chris Harris

March 10th, 2020 at 1:56pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

One of the biggest stories of the 2020 draft is the health of Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. Tagovailoa of course suffered a brutal hip injury toward the end of the college football season that threatened to derail his pro career. Fortunately everything has gone smoothly with his recovery up until now, and he got another solid update recently. Tagovailoa had his four-month scans on the hip, something that was always considered a very important marker in the process, and everything went well, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network (Twitter link).

Sources told Rapoport that the scans came back “very good with no concerns” and that they were “as positive as possible.” Rapoport notes that with this scan out of the way, Tagavailoa will now be able to ramp up his physical activity. It’s unclear when exactly he’ll be able to play again, but at the very least he’ll miss a good portion of the offseason program of whatever team drafts him. Despite the concerns over his hip, he still seems very likely to be off the board early in the first round, and potentially within the first few picks. Here’s to hoping everything continues to progress nicely and we see him back on the field soon.

Here’s more from around the football universe:

  • Another under the radar concession the players got in the new proposed CBA is a significant increase in offseason pay. Starting in 2021 the rates players are paid for minicamp and the preseason will go from $2K a week to $2.9K a week for veterans, and from $1.15K a week to $1.7K a week for rookies, according to Mike Klis of Denver 9 News (Twitter link). Klis also reports that every other year those numbers will increase an additional $300 per week for veterans and $150 per week for rookies. Many undrafted rookies who are part of the offseason 90-man roster but don’t stand any chance of making the team barely get anything for their efforts, so this will at least put a little additional cash in their pockets during training camp.
  • Chris Harris is looking for a big payday this offseason, and it looks like the cornerback won’t be back with the Broncos next year. In preparation for his first testing of the open market, the veteran fired his agent Fred Lyles and signed with a bigger firm, according to Nicki Jhabvala of The Athletic. Ironically Jhabvala notes that Lyles also represents cornerback A.J. Bouye, who Denver just traded for to essentially replace Harris. Harris has always been a top corner but he’s now on the wrong side of 30, so it’ll be very interesting to see what his market looks like. He turned down an extension offer of $12MM annually from the Broncos last year.
  • In case you missed it, the NFL pushed back the franchise tag deadline as CBA talks continue to drag on.
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