Goodell threatens discipline for speaking out against NFL draft plans

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell sent a memo to chief executives, club presidents, general managers and head coaches on Thursday to say that the 2020 NFL draft will go on as scheduled April 23-25, threatening league discipline for speaking out against the decision.

“Public discussion of issues relating to the Draft serves no useful purpose and is grounds for disciplinary action,” Goodell wrote in the memo.

The NFL’s general manager subcommittee recommended by a vote of 6-1 to delay the draft earlier this week due to concerns about the ability of teams to gather information about draft prospects during the coronavirus crisis. Teams usually have an opportunity to go through expanded medical evaluations and bring players into their individual facilities to further evaluate the potential fit.

With his memo, Goodell was likely indirectly responding to Saints general manager Mickey Loomis, who said on NBC Sports Peter King’s podcast that it would be “really difficult” to draft at the end of April.

“This is not a fantasy draft that you can conduct with just a list of things on a piece of paper,” Loomis said. “There’s a lot of work that goes into it preparing, and there’s a lot of work that is done during the draft that, listen, it’ll be very, very difficult to conduct that and do it in a way that you’re doing justice to the process.”

Also in the memo, Goodell says part of the reason the draft should go on as scheduled is because there is no other clear date for it to happen.

“Everyone recognizes that the public health conditions are highly uncertain and there is no assurance that we can select a different date and be confident that conditions will be significantly more favorable than they are today,” Goodell wrote.

Plus, Goodell wrote, the draft may “serve a very positive purpose for our clubs, our fans and the country at large.”

The NFL does not yet know exactly what format the draft will have due to the fluidity of the coronavirus pandemic. The draft was originally scheduled to take place in Las Vegas, but concerns over the coronavirus caused the league to cancel all draft plans in the Raiders’ new home.

Contact Myles Simmons at msimmons@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0350. Follow @MylesASimmons on Twitter.

NFL Draft memo by Las Vegas Review-Journal on Scribd