NFL Draft: Potential Security Risks with Virtual Draft

The NFL will be holding their draft as scheduled on April 23. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it will not be held in Las Vegas, but instead virtually with teams and players logging in from the comfort of their homes. The NFL draft is just the latest sporting event to be affected by the pandemic. Many experts are unsure if we’ll ever see live sports again this year. The NFL is staying cautiously optimistic that football will be played this year. The first step to a new league year, the draft.

This year’s draft has been described as similar to your fantasy football drafts. Does that mean we should expect to see Jerry Jones and Bill Belichick losing internet connection right before their selection? We can make bets on which general manager attempts to make a selection before realizing their connection has timed out. So many possibilities of things that can go wrong.

The league plans to install several safeguards. First, they plan on conducting a mock draft with all 32 teams in the days leading up to the draft. To eliminate concerns, the NFL will enforce a strict no timeout policy in between picks.

What happens when a team tries to make a trade? Draft day trades are already time-sensitive and with the new, no timeout policy seems almost impossible.

In an interview on Sirius XM, Seahawks head coach Pete Caroll spoke about trades this year,

“I think it’s hard for people on the outside to realize how intricate and how timely the urgency is during those moments leading up into your pick, because you have minutes, and then you have a minute, and then you’re down to 30 [seconds].”

Like many other people working from home, the teams will have their “war rooms” in Zoom format. Goodell told teams to conduct their draft operations remotely with everyone in their own homes. This will slow the selection process down significantly. Teams are also worried about other teams hacking into those Zoom teleconference calls. Ravens head coach John Harbaugh is one of the coaches who expressed concern. He told the Baltimore Sun,

Every time I read something in, like, the Wall Street Journal or the New York Times that talks about how messed up Zoom is, or some of these other deals … I immediately text it to our IT people, and [director of football administration] Nick Matteo’s one of those guys, and they assure me that we are doing everything humanly possible.”

The NFL is not the only organization worried about security while using Zoom. Recently, new security measures were put in place on the platform including passwords and making rooms private. Hosts also have to manually add people to the call, eliminating people from randomly joining a team’s chat.

The draft was supposed to happen in Las Vegas, but like everything else sports related had to be canceled so we can continue to practice social distancing. Potential picks had their pro days canceled and have been unable to tour team facilities The draft will feature players including Joe Burrow, the likely number one selection, checking in virtually.

This draft will be much different than years past. Last night the WNBA successfully conducted a virtual draft providing hope that teams can draft effectively from home. If they do encounter technical difficulties, the NFL has landline telephones set up and e-mails.

We can all still boo Roger Goodell together in our homes, staying at least six feet apart. The NFL Draft begins Thursday, April 23.