The NFL is considering allowing teams back into their shuttered facilities to make selections during the April 23-25 draft. If teams are allowed back to HQs, they also will be permitted to use other facilities as long as they follow local laws and the CDC's social distancing procedures. The memo comes one day after the Saints announced plans to draft from a brewery controlled by Owner Gayle Benson, which raised eyebrows in some corners. No final decisions have been made, but the NFL is considering two scenarios based on CDC guidance, input from NFL Chief Medical Officer Dr. Allen Sills and local laws: 1) teams cannot gather together at all, and officials must run their drafts from their personal residences or 2) a limited number of officials will be permitted into the team facilities, subject to mandatory health and safety guidelines. Plans to shift to off-site locations, like the Saints are doing, will only be permitted if it is option No. 2. If anyone has to pick from home, they all do (Ben Fischer, THE DAILY).
SAINTS DEFEND DECISION: USA TODAY's Jarrett Bell reports Saints coach Sean Payton "staunchly defends" the team's decision to put its draft war room at the Dixie Brewery "as a solid option." Payton wrote in a text, "We might have the safest setup in the league for these meetings. Remote location. Nobody here!" He reiterated that a "maximum of four people," including GM Mickey Loomis and Assistant GM Jeff Ireland, will be in the room and that they will follow CDC social distancing guidelines. Other staff members "will be connected to pre-draft meetings and the draft itself via teleconferencing" (USA TODAY, 4/3). In New Orleans, Jeff Nowak noted Payton stressed that the location "was chosen not because of the beverage availability, but because it presented the most reasonable option" (NOLA.com, 4/2).
