NFL - NEWS & NOTES

NFL: Draft will be “fully virtual” with team personnel in separate locations

The NFL told teams last week that they were deciding between allowing small gatherings of club personnel to work together during the draft or requiring everyone to work from their homes by themselves.

The league announced its ruling on Monday. In a memo delivered to all teams and obtained by multiple reporters, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell wrote that teams should prepare for a “fully virtual.” Club personnel will be located “in separate locations and able to communicate with one another and Draft headquarters by phone or internet.”

Goodell’s decision is based on a desire to have all teams operating in a “consistent and fair way” at a moment when some areas have more stringent orders restricting gatherings and/or movement than others. Goodell wrote that the league also wants everyone “to comply with government directives and to model safe and appropriate health practice” amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Teams have been preparing for this decision, so it likely won’t change much about their preparations for a draft that’s going to look completely different from what we’ve grown accustomed to over the years.

 

NFL delays start of offseason workout programs for teams

The NFL is delaying the start of its offseason workout program while formulating a plan with the NFL Players Association on how to proceed during the coronavirus pandemic.

At least for the time being, NFL coaches won’t be allowed to communicate with players via videoconferencing.

Normally, Monday would have signaled the start of the nine-week offseason workout program for the five NFL teams with new head coaches — Carolina, Dallas, Washington, Cleveland and the New York Giants — to begin participating in conditioning drills and light workouts. However, due to COVID-19, players are not allowed to be at team facilities while social distancing standards remain in place throughout the country.

It was expected that those teams would begin meeting Monday via videoconferencing. But the NFL informed teams on Friday they will be notified once the league and NFLPA determine the scope and earliest possible date when they may begin their offseason workout programs.

Specifically, the league is discussing possible revisions to the offseason workout program that would permit teams to conduct classroom instruction, workouts, and non-football educational programs on a virtual basis while team facilities remain closed.

“We are still waiting for the league to tell us when that starts," Panthers general manager Marty Hurney said via conference call on Monday. "We don’t have a date yet.”

In the meantime, teams may provide players with playbooks and video on iPads, Microsoft Surface tablets, or other similar type units for voluntary use by the player away from the team facility. The video may include coaching or instructional voice-overs or audio content; superimposed diagrams; schematics; or written commentary.

That will give players at least some head start preparing for the season ahead.

For teams like Carolina, there is a lot of work to do with a new coaching staff, a new quarterback and a new playbook.

Hurney said Carolina's staff is working tirelessly preparing for the coming weeks and months while doing everything possible to establish effective lines of communication between players and coaches once given the OK.

“We have worked hard to get ready for whenever we get the green light and have video conferencing with our players,” Hurney said. "But right now it's a lot like going into the draft — we are getting prepared for all of the scenarios and waiting to see when we can move forward.”

Fox News

 

Les Snead: Rams will spread it around at running back



The Rams made an expensive mistake when they gave running back Todd Gurley a big second contract rather than simply letting him play out his rookie deal, and it’s a mistake that General Manager Les Snead indicated he won’t make again.

Snead said the Rams’ focus at the running back position going forward will be on having multiple backs, not shelling out a small fortune on one starter.

“What we do want to be is a team that utilizes more than one workhorse moving the ball, with different skill sets,” Snead said, via Greg Beacham of the Associated Press.

Snead acknowledged that Gurley’s salary cap number was simply too high to justify keeping him.

“Ultimately, our vision is to keep us contending not only in the short term, but the long term. Releasing Todd, we felt, was the best thing for the Rams,” Snead said.

The Rams currently have three running backs on the roster: Malcolm Brown, Darrell Henderson and John Kelly. They may add more before the season starts, but you can bet they won’t add any running backs who cost anything close to what Gurley cost.

NBC

 

Buccaneers unveil their new uniforms



The Buccaneers have unveiled the uniforms that Tom Brady will wear in his first season as the team’s quarterback and anyone hoping to see a return to the Creamsicle days is going to be disappointed.

The team’s new uniforms bear a strong resemblance to the ones they wore from 1997 until they moved to their most recent look after the 2013 season. The font for the jersey numbers will revert to the previous style as will the red jersey for home games. The team also added a pewter third uniform that’s reminiscent of the color that was introduced into the team’s look in 2014.

“This new but familiar look is a direct result of the valuable feedback we received from our fans,” Buccaneers owner/co-chairman Ed Glazer said in a statement. “We are excited to return to our classic Super Bowl era uniforms while also introducing a sleek Color Rush uniform that showcases our signature pewter in a new and dramatic way. The refreshed classic design of our home and away combinations bridges our past with our exciting new future, and we are confident it will resonate with our fans.”

In the release from the team, they note that they’ve heard from fans who wanted to see the team revert to their original orange-and-white look. Head coach Bruce Arians recently suggested using those throwbacks as a possibility for 2021 if the league allows teams to wear multiple helmets in a season and the team said the same in their release.

NBC

 

Thank heaven! I could not be more thankful that they didn't screw this up any more. "We made everyone look at the worst uniforms in the league these few years, so we're going back to the uniforms we never should've changed in the first place".

These look great. The old uniforms never needed to be destroyed the way they were, in the first place. I LOVE the old orange and white uniforms, so I would love to see those come back, but I don't think they could do that as a base uniform, right now. Gotta come back to some base sense of sanity after an eternity of digital-clock numbers, disgusting color box patterns, and all that... Nike needs to just keep their damn hands off the uniforms in the first place...

 

No timeouts or other protections for teams in virtual draft



Some teams would like some flexibility in the first-ever virtual draft in order to account for technical glitches. The league’s response, to use a technical term, is basically this: Tough sh-t.

Mike Garafolo of NFL Media explained on Tuesday that there will be no allowances for technical difficulties. There are plenty of ways to communicate during the draft, Garafolo explained, including an open conference call with all 32 teams and the league.

“It was determined that there should be no technological issues standing in the way of getting a pick in,” Garafolo said.

So the draft will proceed with all 32 teams subject to the same rules and deadlines, with the possibility of some sort of actual or alleged glitch simply being another dose of reality for the ultimate reality show about nothing.

NBC

 

All 32 teams will participate in a mock draft to test the technology

This year’s draft will be conducted remotely, and some teams have expressed concerns that technical difficulties could result in an inability to submit picks, contact other teams about trades, or otherwise conduct business as usual. So a practice session has been planned.

All 32 teams will participate in a mock draft, with general managers and league officials all set up at their home offices to oversee the technology and make sure it functions properly, according to Tom Pelissero of NFL Network.

NFL general managers aren’t necessarily the most technologically adept people, so it isn’t surprising that they’re going to need some practice to feel confident they can do it right on draft day.

The draft starts two weeks from tomorrow, so the league has two weeks to make sure everything is up to speed.

 

I wonder if Belichick will figure out a way to expose a glitch that allows you to run extra time off the clock

 

NFL will make allowances for legitimate technical collapses



It’s one thing for the league to take the position that there generally will be no reason to delay the deadline for getting picks made when the first-ever (and hopefully first-only) home-office draft happens in 15 days. It’s quite another for the league to take the position that the clock will continue to run if a legitimate technical collapse occurs.

Per a league source, the NFL will be prepared to show flexibility in the event that a genuine technical breakdown happens. In late April, for example, thunderstorms tend to happen on a fairly regular basis. Chances are that, somewhere in the U.S., a storm will be firing at some point during the first round of the draft. If a G.M. or head coach or owner temporarily lose all connections due to a lightning strike, the NFL won’t tell them, “Sh-t happens.”

Whatever form it takes, it must be a real breakdown, not an inconvenience or an annoyance or an actual or feigned inability to figure out how to use the available technology. The league is working with all relevant sponsors (like Verizon, Amazon, and Bose) to ensure that, despite everyone taking the office to the home, a legitimate workplace will emerge.

The NFL chose to proceed with a draft in these unusual times. The NFL has a huge responsibility to ensure that it works. If real glitches happen, the NFL won’t simply shout, “Next!” The NFL will find a way to help a team that finds itself in the wrong technological place at the wrong technological time.

NBC

 

Falcons have new uni's also...

 

Bucs get better, Falcons get worse. We were so close to a better looking NFL.

 

At least the Steelers uniforms are still the best looking ones

 

LoL

Sure Gid. At least they haven’t done a Rams or Falcons remodel. Agree 100% that way

 

Report: Concern emerges over IT employees in NFL homes

It’s not quite carnage in the streets, but there’s a concern regarding the presence of IT workers in NFL homes.

That’s the latest from Adam Schefter of ESPN. He reports that a “concern has emerged in recent days” regarding “certain coaches and front-office staffers [being] reluctant to have their IT employees in their homes for fear of the virus spreading.” The reverse also applies; Schefter says that some IT employees are concerned about going into homes to equip them for the draft.

It’s a legitimate concern, and frankly it’s an issue that potentially violates “stay at home” orders and other applicable local restrictions. If a given state or county has no exception allowing NFL employees to go to team facilities for the purposes of working the draft, there’s also likely no exception allowing IT employees to leave their own homes and enter the homes of others.

If this concern has legs (and it quite possibly does), it’s another consequences of the league’s ready-fire-aim approach to conducting the draft. While there are real benefits for the millions who are stuck at home having something to anticipate for the next two weeks followed by something to spend three days distracted by, there are real challenges to compliance with the rules that are in place in many of the area where the NFL does business.

How this one gets resolved remains to be seen. But even if the IT employees ultimately don’t enter homes, the NFL will find a way to get draft done, even if it comes down to 32 tin cans with string leading to 345 Park Avenue.

NBC

 

Just use the phone. Screw video. That might wind up being how they do it

 

the NFL will find a way to get draft done, even if it comes down to 32 tin cans with string leading to 345 Park Avenue.



LOL.........good line Will.

 

We are brothers in arms
We all are in this together like it or not.
Let’s get together and love one another right now

 

Just a thought. If China had told everyone about this virus quickly we might still be waiting for the SB to be played

 

Roger Goodell: “The NFL is planning to play”

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has been conspicuous in his presence during the pandemic. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has been conspicuous in his absence.

Goodell spoke on camera for the first time earlier this week, in a FaceTime call with Ankur Jain, the founder and CEO of Kairos.

Among other things, Goodell reiterated the league’s intent to play football games in 2020.

“The NFL is planning to play,” Goodell said. “That’s our hope, and that’s our planning to date.”

Similar to the league’s views regarding the upcoming draft, Goodell believes that football will be beneficial during these trying times.

“We can help our country heal,” Goodell said. “We can help bring our communities together. We can provide hope. We can provide a distraction from the everyday issues and show people that there is a future out there and that we’re all going to be part of that.”

He’s right. Even though playing the games directly advances the financial interests of the NFL, it also advances the broader interests of a society that is caught in a Groundhog Day existence, slowly climbing a mountain with no idea where the top may be — and whether there’s even a top at all. Having events like the draft and football games will help people who are staying at home pass the time until the time comes for normalcy.

But there’s a balance. Goodell made it clear that the league will, in deciding when to play, put public safety first.

“We have to put the general public safety but also the safety of all those workers [at stadium],” Goodell said. “The hope here is that the steps that our leaders are taking are going to help end this pandemic as soon as possible.”

While we wait for it to end, Goodell has provided a message of optimism.

“We’re gonna get through this,” he said. “We’re gonna get through this together as a country and as world and that this is something that we’re going to overcome. People should keep that hope, because we’re going to get back to doing the things that we were doing and hopefully creating a great future for so many people, and I hope everyone stays involved and does what’s best in our communities in the short term but more importantly keeps focusing on the future, because it’s going to be a bright future for us.”

For the millions of football fans who currently feel lost, a simple expression like that from the man who runs the NFL can make a big difference. Here’s hoping we get more messages of hope like this from Goodell, and from others who occupy a high profile in pro sports.

NBC