The lead-up to the 2020 NFL Draft has been an oddity.
The global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic prompted the NFL to shut down facilities and restrict travel. Most college pro days were canceled. Medical re-checks from the NFL Scouting Combine never happened. There were no in-person facility visits over the last month, though video conferencing was allowed with prospects as a substitute.
All that boils down to this: NFL teams have less concrete information than they’re used to. Will it be enough to make a proper decision while on the clock?
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General manager Mike Mayock believes the Raiders have done an excellent job working within this year’s constraints and embracing a pared process ahead of Thursday’s draft.
There’s zero concern about most first-round picks, save those dealing with recent medical issues who couldn’t have been evaluated later in the process.
“With the first-day prospects, for the most part, you’ve got two to three years of film,” Mayock said this week in a conference call with local reporters. “Most of them at least were at the combine and you have at least the height and weight, if not verified 40-times, etc. So, for the bigger-name guys, there are less question marks with the one exception of medical and that’s the one, again, where I think most teams have the most concern.
“We don’t know as well as we have in years past with combine re-checks and medical, and there’s always been a consistency of how that will perform. So, I think the biggest issue early on is just the medical status of a lot of these guys, but outside of that if you don’t know these first-round guys -- I mean, there is plenty of tape, plenty of opportunity to get on Zoom with them.”
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Issues could arise in the later rounds, when less-heralded players, those with medical or character issues and/or smaller-school prospects with less tape to review.
There’s a greater concern, Mayock said, the process could lead to more mistakes than usual.
“It’s more kind of that third day," he said, "when you start talking about guys that don’t have as much tape, guys that don’t have verified [measurements], guys that were not at the combine. We are getting an awful lot of tape and information from agents who are doing ad hoc Pro Days and [evaluating] how much of that can you trust or not trust.
"So, I think more of the question marks begin to surface the further you get into this draft. I think the first round, for the most part, will be similar to most years.”
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While moving around the NFL draft board is probable, the Raiders' current draft picks are top-heavy and less vulnerable to the issues mentioned above. They have two first-round draft picks, three in the third and none after the fifth.
The Raiders could add some later selections by trading down but, with rare exceptions, the Raiders will have collected most pertinent information and seen plenty of tape on prospects going in the first three rounds.
"I am very thankful to have two first-round picks, but we have three in the third," Mayock said. "That to me, three picks in the third is just like stealing. If we’re doing our jobs the right way, hopefully that’s three more starters."