Virtual NFL Draft: Bust or Great Success

Christian Martinelli 

Last Thursday was the first time Americans have had some sort of sporting event to all sit down and watch simultaneously in the last month and a half. That event was the 2020 NFL Draft that was conducted out of NFL commissioner Roger Goodell’s basement. Some people thought it would be a disaster, some people thought it would be amazing, and others believed it would be better than the nothing that we’ve had. After the dust has settled and all 256 picks have been made, was the 2020 NFL Draft a bust or a great success?

The draft was neither, it wasn’t unwatchable like that NBA  H.O.R.S.E. contest they had last month, but it definitely wasn’t amazing like The Last Dance Michael Jordan documentary. The draft found itself somewhere in between both of those extremes. 

The best part about the draft normally is getting to see the players' reactions with their whole families, and seeing them go on stage holding their new teams jersey. This draft the players were only surrounded by at most 5 or 6 family members, and of course no one was in person to receive a hug and jersey from that scumbag Goodell. I love watching an entire 30 person family go crazy when the athlete gets that coveted call from the team that drafts them, it’s awesome and so electric.

Another part that wasn’t great about this was Goodell having so much air time. It seemed like every time I looked up he was making some sort of unemotional tribute to something or awkwardly trying to fire up the fans on a TV behind him, “Is that all you got?!”. He came off as the robot he is and that wasn’t overly enjoyable, it got even worse when he tried to start cracking jokes halfway through the show. A fun part of the in person draft is guest announcers, because they bring some energy and fun that Goodell never could. 

ESPN and NFL Network did a great job by combining their normal draft teams together to make one big broadcast on ESPN. This was important because it showed some unity, also they did a great job spreading around the opportunity to talk and working together. The connection was good for the most part, and the stepping on toes was kept to a minimum as well. The only part that really bothered me was ESPN’s staunch commitment to making the happiest moment of these kids lives into some sort of obituary for anyone they’ve ever known that has died. After every pick it seemed as though someone had a story tragic enough to make a movie about, and ESPN made sure that was the first thing they blasted out there. Nothing like some death and drug addiction stories to lift the spirits of people during this pandemic!

All that being said, I think for what the draft was expected to be it panned out pretty well. There were no pick malfunctions, and nothing too wild happened besides Goodell manspreding to 15 million people on his “favorite chair”. The draft captivated a massive audience and it gave us all something else to watch, complain about, and get our minds off of the craziness going on in the world for a few days. Was it perfect? No, but I think everyone is thankful that the NFL worked so hard to make this happen. It brought us a little distraction in a time when we needed it most.

Everyone loves to grade teams overall draft picks after the fact, but no one ever just grades the draft itself so that’s what I’ll do. This draft brought us something to talk about, and the production and hard work put into it was obvious. There was just too many sad stories and too much of Roger Goodell’s dumb face. Hopefully this never happens again, but if it does they can learn from this and tweak the draft to make it better. It wasn’t a bust or some life changing success, but it got the job done and that’s good enough for me.

​Overall Draft: B

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