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Anyone who has participated in a fantasy football draft conducted remotely by computer might be especially interested in the NFL's mock draft Monday night. The reasoning for the upcoming mock draft is to understand the process of a virtual draft, and to work out any bugs before the real draft.
But that's not the real reason it will be interesting. Monday's mock draft will go in the order of Thursday's actual draft, except the 2020 draft prospects won't be the players chosen. Teams will choose legends and hall of fame players, and teams can make trades for the all-time greats.
That's what needs to be shown in a Monday Night Football slot next week instead of two, 30-minute episodes of Peyton's Places (which is actually entertaining), followed by the replay of a 2005 regular-season game between Peyton Manning's Indianapolis Colts and Tom Brady's New England Patriots.
The Monday mock draft is a way for teams to test computers and get ready for a virtual draft where people will be locked inside their homes instead of draft "war rooms," where they give high-fives and fist bumps after they make their pick.
"We're going to do a couple of internal tests and trial runs here, and the league is going to have a mock draft, mock trial run on Monday that we'll participate in," Detroit Lions general manager Bob Quinn told ESPN.com on Friday.
The draft was originally scheduled to be held in Las Vegas, Nevada, which is getting an NFL team as the Raiders are moving there from Oakland, and the Las Vegas Raiders are scheduled to play in a new stadium starting this fall.
The live draft from Las Vegas was eventually scrapped because of the spread of COVID-19, also known as the coronavirus pandemic. The coronavirus was first detected in Wuhan, China during late 2019, and by April 17, more than 2.2 million people worldwide have tested positive for the virus, and there have been more than 150,000 deaths around the globe. The United States leads the world in total cases (707,000) and deaths (30,000).
The virtual draft, which is designed to follow social distancing guidelines, will begin Thursday night (04/23/20), and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has already said he will announce all of the first-round picks from the basement of his New York home.
The mock draft on Monday will be a way for teams, and the league to work out any kinks. It's also a way for them to have some fun, as it's highly unlikely any team will select 2020 prospects in the mock draft to not tip their hands, or perhaps even bluff.
"We'll have fun making some mock trades," Philadelphia Eagles GM Howie Roseman said.
So instead of the Cincinnati Bengals drafting LSU quarterback Joe Burrow at No. 1, they could perhaps choose Ken Anderson, Chris Collinsworth or, gasp, Joe Montana, the San Francisco 49ers quarterback who won his first Super Bowl over the Bengals.
The mock draft is also a way to test safeguards in the system. Let's say a team has trouble communicating their pick to the league. The league can stop the clock if communication breaks down while trying to submit their pick or announce a trade.
"Three separate team individuals are able to submit the pick, so if there's an issue at one person's house, two other team execs could submit," a league spokesman told ESPN. "If a team is experiencing technological issues, the player personnel department would be in position to stop the clock to ensure a pick is submitted or a trade occurs."
Fantasy football is a game played by fans who select current players to fill positions on a roster from quarterback to kicker, and some choose a defense. Players compile points each week for fantasy team owners who are typically in head-to-head matchups, and top players in a regular season advance to a winner-take-all playoffs.
Most fantasy drafts are held through a host like CBS, ESPN or Yahoo, and most are completed online through those platforms.
Monday night should have a large resemblance to that, except much more money is on the line during next week's draft.
About the writer
Scott McDonald is a Newsweek deputy night editor based in Cape Coral, Florida. His focus is assigning and writing stories ... Read more