On the Front Line of the Virtual NFL Draft
Go inside Les Snead's guest bedroom where, among the bunk beds, the Rams IT staff has built the general manager's virtual draft war room.
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00:00The 2020 NFL Draft begins Thursday, and with the new normal of social distance, a lot will
00:08be different.
00:09Joining me now to discuss his story on how Les Snead and the Rams are approaching this
00:14annual NFL tradition for SI's daily cover is SI senior writer Greg Bishop.
00:18Greg, first of all, the Rams are in a unique position this year.
00:21They don't have a pick in the first round.
00:24Is this an opportunity for them to watch how the rest of this league deals with this virtual
00:28draft format, or could we expect them to work themselves back into that first round?
00:32Yeah, that's actually a really good point that I hadn't considered too deeply before.
00:37You know, I think that one thing that a lot of general managers that I spoke with are
00:40worried about is whether there's going to be any glitches.
00:43And I think most of them believe that if there's going to be a problem, it will be like what
00:48happened with the mock draft on Monday, where there was one issue early, and then it went
00:52smoothly for the entire league.
00:54I think when you're looking at the draft, the stakes, the money, the magnitude, everything
00:59that's involved there, what you're hoping is that nothing happens because the situation
01:03is so unusual that will make things worse on you than they would have been otherwise.
01:08And to that end, I think the Rams are well-positioned in that, you know, they end up getting Jalen
01:12Ramsey by not having a first-round pick.
01:15That was part of the deal in terms of going to grab him.
01:17And then you look at not having the pick itself this year, I mean, it's possible that they
01:21might trade up.
01:23But I would say more likely that they will sit the first round out, see how it goes for
01:27everybody else, and get ready for round two.
01:29Now, a lot of changes this year in preparation for the draft as well.
01:33As you noted, the Rams were only able to bring one prospect into the facility.
01:37How else has this new normal affected the way the Rams have prepared for the draft?
01:42Yeah, I think I would start there with the Sneeds.
01:44I mean, this was one of the more unusual reporting sort of segments I've ever done for a story.
01:50They basically FaceTimed me while they had their draft stuff put into Les' house.
01:55And he lives in Malibu with his wife and two of their children.
01:59They basically are using a converted guest bedroom to like where he will draft.
02:04In that room, there was something like 13 different screens.
02:08His son's room is next door, so they have to tell him to turn down his video games when
02:12he's playing them during draft meetings.
02:15The pool is right out back in case he decides to take a celebratory dip after a particularly
02:20good pick.
02:21His letter jackets are hanging in the closet.
02:24And essentially, this is just the opposite of what his normal life would be like.
02:26I mean, this time of most years, he's in the office at 7 a.m.
02:30He's out of the office at 9 p.m.
02:32He's spending all day at the facility with his lieutenants and coaches getting ready
02:36for the moment that's upon us.
02:38And this time, he's home with his wife, Kara, and with their kids.
02:42You know, one of them's long snapping in the back.
02:44The other one is taking virtual classes online.
02:47I mean, it was just a very surreal experience to watch this stuff get put in and to think
02:51this is not only their day-to-day existence, but this is how the future of the Rams, part
02:56of the future, will be decided in that guest bedroom next to the bunk beds and the letter
03:01jackets on Thursday night.
03:03Now, I got to ask, you mentioned Les Snead has 13 screens.
03:07We've seen a lot of photos on social media of varying GM setups, some looking like a
03:12best buy, some a bit more modest.
03:15What are all of these screens for?
03:16You know, it's a great question, and I think it just speaks to the paranoia that runs rampant
03:21throughout the NFL.
03:22I mean, with Les, it's backups on top of backups.
03:24So they have a screen, for instance, for the offensive players that are available in the
03:29draft.
03:30They have a screen with their defensive draft board.
03:32They have their overall draft board.
03:34There will be draft coverage, I believe, from ESPN on one of the monitors.
03:38There will be different conferencing calls, and the level of seniority will dictate who
03:42is on those calls.
03:44You're going to have one that's just the top level decision makers.
03:47You'll have offensive ones that include more position coaches.
03:51You'll have ones in regard to particular players or particular college teams that feature guys
03:56who are scouts in different regions of the country.
03:59And I think on some level, what you should picture is that of a day trader, like picture
04:03all the screens in front of them, all the stocks in movement, all these things that
04:07are going on and changing in real time.
04:09And that essentially is what it will look like for Les Snead on Thursday, Friday, and
04:13Saturday of this week.
04:15What's interesting is he's not a big tech guy, and he's not a big screen guy.
04:20So it'll be interesting to see how some of these GMs who are used to doing it one way,
04:24who have always dealt with pen and paper, will deal with having four different phones,
04:29for instance, in the room, because they don't want one to fail or even two to fail or even
04:33three to fail.
04:34They need four phones.
04:35And Les told me that if anything bad happens, he has a backup plan.
04:40He'll hop on his bike, and he'll ride to the nearest place where he can get Wi-Fi, and
04:44he'll put the pick in that way.
04:45So I think they're ready for everything down there.
04:49Gotta stay ready.
04:50SI senior writer Greg Bishop, thank you so much for the insight on this very unique 2020
04:54NFL draft.
04:55Thank you for having me.