There won’t be war rooms, a live crowd or even a chorus of boos for commissioner Roger Goodell when the NFL Draft gets started on Thursday.
Instead, the draft will be done virtually with all team personnel in separate locations. For everyone involved, including two former UNC football players who entered the draft, the introduction of online communication elements will lead to an unprecedented experience.
Offensive lineman Charlie Heck and defensive lineman Jason Strowbridge will both hear their names called at some point in the draft. However, neither knows when, and some of their opportunities to impress NFL teams have been taken away from them.
“All of those pre-draft visits or anything like that, any workout, they’re all just online Zoom meetings now,” Heck said during a press conference over Zoom on Monday. “So whatever in-person thing you would’ve had, it’s now on Zoom.”
Although they may not be able to conduct in-person workouts, both prospects were invited to the NFL Combine and got a chance to show off their skills virtually.
“I was grateful that I was able to go to the combine,” Heck said. “I was really looking forward to UNC Pro Day just to kind of help out some of those numbers, but luckily I was able to get a lot of exposure [at the combine] and at some of the bowl games I went to.”
Heck is in a unique situation because there are two people in his house going through the virtual draft process, just on opposite sides.
His father, Andy Heck, who is the offensive line coach for the Kansas City Chiefs, is also adapting to this new reality while evaluating players, and that gives Charlie an advantage that most players don’t have.
“Every day he’s on Zoom meetings with players, so he tells me what he likes, how I should be presenting myself, all that type of stuff,” Charlie said.
