Tim Benz: Canceling the NFL Draft would hurt incoming players, help no one

ESPN’s Adam Schefter appears to disagree with the NFL’s plans to move forward with the draft as scheduled for April 23-25 in spite of the coronavirus pandemic.

“The draft is happening only through the sheer force and determination and lack of foresight from the NFL, frankly,” Schefter said this week on the network. “They are determined to put this on while there is carnage in the streets.”

Even @AdamSchefter is fed up. pic.twitter.com/2c8VXpeIC0

— Matt Rogers (@Politidope) April 1, 2020

That’s a 180-degree flip from a guy who, a few days ago, talked with excitement about the notion of having all seven rounds of the NFL Draft on seven different nights.

I have zero problem with the draft progressing as scheduled. First of all, we’re all supposed to stay inside our houses these days anyway. What keeps people inside their homes to sit on their butts and watch television more effectively than the NFL Draft?

It is no longer going to be an in-person, glitzy event on the Las Vegas Strip. It is going to be NFL management types in their home offices making picks on a phone or via teleconference. Then picks will be announced on television. It’ll be a mildly beefed-up version of your own workplace fantasy football draft.

Relax, Adam. No one is at risk.

I also want to know when it makes sense to conduct the draft, if it isn’t done on time. Who gets to be the arbiter of when it is “appropriate” to host the process?

Schefter?

If the event is postponed, that helps absolutely nobody impacted by covid-19. No one.

If the draft is postponed, the “carnage in the streets” won’t subside. Commissioner Roger Goodell being on television via Skype doesn’t prevent one extra sick person from getting a bed or a ventilator.

I don’t understand how a connection is being drawn. Also, keep in mind halting the selection process hurts the athletes who are in the draft.

In a worst-case scenario, let’s say the season is canceled shortly after the draft. Then, at least the NFL and the NFL Players Association got seven rounds worth of players onto teams and into the union so they have employment and health care.

Which will be more than can be said for a lot of people when they come out of this mess.

Sports Illustrated’s Jimmy Traina applauded Schefter’s stance. Why? Not only would ditching the selection process hurt this year’s class — it could hurt 2021’s as well.

If we are going to implement a doomsday scenario, presume the end of the season, and refuse to hold a draft in ‘20, do we then double the talent pool in 2021? Have two drafts?

That would make it twice as hard for the middle-of-the-pack players to make rosters. Many first-rounders now would make second-round money. Sixth-rounders may go undrafted next year.

Let’s be honest, though. None of this carping is about mechanics. Or public safety. Or health.

This is about “optics” and “tone.” My two least-favorite words in the English language.

Because disagreeing with someone’s opinion about something by falling back on “optics” and “tone” is basically just a backhanded way of saying, “I’m making a negative value judgment on what you think is OK.”

We heard this same spiel from NFL media types who wanted to come off looking high-minded before the NFL opened free agency a week ago.

I do understand NFL free agency does not require public gatherings and contact, and I do understand it would be a welcome relief, but I can't see it next week. Sports world has shut down, many teams sent home, optics, etc. And there is no urgency to having it now. #coronavirus

— Andrew Brandt (@AndrewBrandt) March 13, 2020

Yeah. The “optics” and “tone” of the NFL conducting free agency during the shut in were SO BAD that people couldn’t stop reading about it.

They couldn’t get enough. They were starved for actual sports news.

I’ll give you an example. At TribLive for the two months of January and February, eight of our top 25 most-read stories were sports related. Six involved the NFL.

In March — amid the height of the biggest news story in 20 years — seven of our top 25 highest-read stories were still sports related. Again, six involved the NFL.

I guess “optics” and “tone” weren’t that big of a problem during free agency, huh?

They won’t be for the draft either.

Was it bad “optics” to play NFL games on Sept. 23, 2001, just 12 days after the attacks of Sept. 11? Based on the gushing embrace to get sports back into our lives back then, I guess not.

Based on the fact there was an entire “Sports and 9/11” exhibition built into the 9/11 Memorial at the World Trade Center, I’ll say definitely not.

And that was with actual human beings in the stadiums and on the field. This event is simply going to be conducted over Wi-Fi.

One big difference is that back in 2001, there was no Twitter. No place to virtue signal for likes and retweets. That makes the reaction to the coronavirus pandemic very different.

“Optically” speaking, anyway.

Practically speaking, in terms of the NFL Draft, there is no difference from free agency. It poses no negative impact and it should continue as scheduled.

Anyone saying otherwise is just posturing.