Goodell: Learnings from technology here to stay

One of the major benefits of playing a full season pretty much on schedule during a pandemic is what the NFL learned technologically from 2020.

Commissioner Roger Goodell says the league has found new avenues of communication that will be common in future seasons.

“Virtual meetings have now become standard in the NFL; we are not going to have as much (inperson) meetings when we get back,” Goodell said Feb. 24 at the NFL Women’s Careers in Football Forum. “I think technology is something we have embraced and will make us better.”

The previous standard before the COVID-19 pandemic was hour upon hour of meetings at team facilities, whether involving the entire roster in an auditorium or breaking into smaller groups on offense, defense, special teams or by specific positions. While in-person gatherings won’t entirely disappear, the NFL found the ability to meet virtually is a positive development.

“We got together as a coaching team,” said Callie Brownson, Cleveland’s chief of staff, “and our coaches said we got better at teaching because we had to find a way to get better. The eagerness to adapt and learn and change is such a valuable commodity as a coach.”

Brownson became the first woman to handle NFL in-game sideline coaching duties last season.

At a time when so many other sports endured massive delays and restructured schedules because of the pandemic, the NFL made it to the finish line without any major disruptions, largely by embracing technology. The league in essence used the draft last April as a proving ground, and when that worked so well — Goodell even was widely praised for his emcee role — being remote was not a hindrance during offseason programs and onward.

“The draft is an example” of the effectiveness of the technology the NFL used, Goodell noted. “When I told the teams what we were planning to do, to say there was outcry would be an understatement. That had not been done before.”