Technical Issues During NFL’s Draft Rehearsal

The NFL did a dry run in advance of its first “fully virtual” draft and experienced some snags. In fact, there was a technical glitch right from the get-go during the Bengals’ simulated No. 1 pick, according to one source who spoke with ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter (on Twitter).

Meanwhile, multiple coaches and GMs told Dianna Russini of ESPN.com (on Twitter) that bandwidth issues were also causing problems. This does not bode well for the NFL’s attempt at a fully virtual draft this weekend.

The major issue of the virtual draft appears to have occurred near the beginning. After what appears to be a notable hiccup, the mock draft went smoothly, per John Elway (via The Athletic’s Nicki Jhabvala, on Twitter).

The COVID-19 pandemic induced the league to commit to a virtual selection event, and Roger Goodell put the kibosh on criticisms of this decision. GMs, head coaches and other execs will be stationed separately across the country. The NFL initially had stipulated that teams could assemble war rooms of up to 10 staffers — so long as they followed social distancing guidelines. However, the league quickly pivoted to the fully virtual format.

While the league plans to be flexible with issues that may crop up beginning Thursday night, it is not a good sign the trial run produced them so early. Teams have 10 minutes to make picks in the first round. The NFL opted not to extend that clock.

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