Nevius: No harm in going ahead with revamped NFL draft this month

As you know, we are all supposed to hate Roger Goodell. And the NFL commissioner has given us plenty of reasons.

He’s consistently mishandled issues. The worst was probably when Baltimore running back Ray Rice was seen on a video punching his then-fiancee so violently that she was knocked unconscious.

Goodell originally suspended Rice for two games. Since NFL players have been suspended for a full year for testing positive for marijuana, that was clearly ridiculous. (After the video went public, Goodell increased the suspension to “indefinite,” which didn’t really matter since no team would touch Rice. He’s out of football.)

But the original choice - yeah, that’s worth about two games - was face-palmingly clueless. And there have been others. The whole “deflategate” mess with Tom Brady still gets Goodell booed in New England. There’s Goodell’s wishy-washy stance on national anthem protests.

The point is, Goodell is probably the least popular and most disliked commissioner in professional sports.

And now he’s getting roasted for saying the NFL draft should be held in a little over two weeks, regardless of the COVID-19 pandemic.

National NFL analyst Adam Schefter says he is horrified they are holding the draft on April 23-25 ?when there is “carnage in the streets.”

Goodell is even getting it from his hometown paper. The headline on the column by New York Post columnist Paul Schwartz is: “Roger Goodell’s NFL draft-date stubbornness is so wrong.”

I disagree. I think Goodell is right. The NFL should go ahead with the draft as planned.

Why? Well, who would be hurt?

I say nobody.

There would certainly not be a medical danger. Goodell and the NFL aren’t entirely clueless. They realize that - even with no fans present - a glitzy, Las Vegas draft party wasn’t going to work. (The original brainstorm, to have draftees ferried across the Bellagio Hotel fountain in boats, was incredibly cheesy. Was a zip line unavailable?)

Instead, the draft “party” will be strictly virtual. Players will appear on screens and teams will observe social distancing in their draft war rooms. Fans can watch on TV, and second-guess their favorite team, but no gathering or touching.

Now, your real helmet-head will tell you that, under the shelter-in-place guidelines, NFL teams will be hamstrung in their draft evaluations. They won’t be able to bring players in for face-to-face interviews or medical evaluations. They will be drafting players completely blind.

Nonsense.

Teams have been scouting these players for years during their college careers. They have hours of game tape on them.

What’s more, if they are among the top players, they played in postseason bowl games, like the Senior Bowl. Practices and games were run by NFL coaches. Teams not only got to scout the games, they saw the players put in game situations to showcase their skills.

And then there is the NFL combine, which has turned into an unlikely sports phenomenon. We think of the combine as featuring an elite few of the top players, but it is bigger than you think. A typical year has some 330 players.

Invitees are measured and weighed down to their toenail length and ear lobe circumference. They are interviewed in person. They participate in drills and tests designed to break down skills and weaknesses.

C’mon, if you can’t make a pick after all that, maybe you are in the wrong line of work. Remember, it isn’t just your team. Everyone is in the same boat. You may as well launch it into the Bellagio fountain and get on with this.

The second question is: Who will it help to hold the draft as scheduled?

Oddly enough, I’d start with the NFL teams.

League deep thinkers are almost comically prone to last-minute man-crushes. Someone has an eye-popping workout at the combine - maybe he bench-presses 225 pounds 40 times - and suddenly he shoots up the draft board. Never mind that bench-pressing is not a part of football.

It happens every year. Teams suddenly decide to go with the wild-card sleeper pick. And I’ll bet the rate of success for those choices is much lower than if the team just stuck with the consensus.

Also, it would be good for the fans. We can’t be sad all the time. This outbreak is horrible and heartbreaking. And we know it is likely to get worse.

But having spent the last three weeks obsessed with the coronavirus, I am finding that thinking about it every waking moment has not made me feel any better. Nor has it helped the situation.

I don’t forget for a minute what an awful global tragedy this is. But I can say that the one time I feel a little better is when we take our daily walk.

It is no sin to watch replays of Warriors’ championship playoff games or memorable 49ers wins. It doesn’t diminish the seriousness of the pandemic.

Watching the NFL draft wouldn’t downplay the tragedy. But it might give us a moment to feel ... normal. To have a sense that not everything has been upended and changed forever.

Right now, I’d like to hear that.

Contact C.W. Nevius at cw.nevius@pressdemocrat.com. Twitter: @cwnevius