Capping productive week, Texans’ draft class ahead of curve.
NFL decision-makers let us into their homes for the first time, and we loved what we saw
Needs
Replacing DeAndre Hopkins
• Solved before draft with Brandin Cooks trade
PASS RUSH
• Top two picks Ross Blacklock, Jonathan Greenard should help
SECONDARY
• Added John Reid in fourth and signed FA Michael Thomas
Overall VETERANS
• With camps up in the air, Bill O’Brien counting on veterans over rookies
Pay attention, Roger Goodell. Listen up, NFL.
You could learn something right now. From yourselves.
The virtual 2020 draft that could have been a stay-at-home technological disaster? It was exactly what the doctor ordered and what our coronavirus-postponed/canceled sports world needed.
Not because of record TV ratings, national product placements or all the self-attention that the NFL successfully generated.
Because, for the first time in a long time, a league defined by the impenetrable power of its almighty shield appeared down to earth and felt relatable.
Heck, I will go so far as to state that the NFL looked homey for three fascinating days.
There was old-fashioned warmth in the technological limitations. And instead of facing a digital onslaught of visual noise and way too much information, less really was more.
Bill Belichick and his dog.
Bill O’Brien and his sons.
Joe Burrow in a family room — simple, straight forward and unadorned.
As sports-starved Houstonians united in front of their televisions Friday night, watching the Texans select TCU defensive lineman Ross Blacklock with the No. 40 overall pick, O’Brien showed off a side of his real life that devoted Texans fans never get to see.
A father with his sons.
A head coach/general manager sharing a unique family moment — inside a makeshift home “war room” — which will last much longer than the unprecedented 2020 draft.
O’Brien sat behind two computer screens and in front of a backdrop loaded with Texans logos. Next to the coach: His son
Michael, wearing a St. John’s shirt, and his oldest son Jack, who suffers from a neurological disorder, wearing a shirt that featured H-Town at the top and holding a white sign with
“Thank You Frontline Heroes” written in blue, and red hearts in the corners.
“That was cool,” O’Brien said. “I saw (Thursday) night where a lot of the guys, coaches’ and GM’s families were represented on the telecast. (My wife) Colleen and I felt like that was a good way to really thank the health care workers and the front-line medical people that are dealing with the coronavirus, which is — football is so secondary to what’s going on in the world right now.
“So we wheeled ( Jack) out here and he woke up, which was cool, and Michael loves it. Michael has been in here the whole time listening to all these discussions. Jack is doing great. Jack’s day-to-day, every day is a struggle, but he’s hanging in there.”
Dave Gettleman, the New York Giants’ senior vice president and GM, was seen on camera putting on a mask.
Baltimore coach John Harbaugh was surrounded by books, not draft boards.
Tennessee coach Mike Vrabel immediately went viral in the best possible way, creating much-needed humor in our stay-at-home world.
The other side of O’Brien — intense, fiery, demanding — was also on display in his same war room, as a muted camera appeared to capture the HC/GM involved in a heated phone conversation after an agreed-to trade with Detroit for the No. 90 pick fell apart.
“The camera is on the whole time. I don’t know. We were just messing around on the Zoom,” O’Brien said. “We’re on the back patio here. We’ve done a lot of business on the back patio here over the last couple of months.”
Denver’s John Elway coolly flashed his Super Bowl trophies. Jerry Jones conducted Dallas’ draft from a yacht.
OK. Not everyone was 100 percent relatable.
But with Goodell reading off picks and encouraging boos from a basement, then relaxing in a chair like he was about to unfurl a fireside chat, the NFL got out of its own way this week and let its players, coaches and team staff members shine.
We are stuck in our homes, waiting for this crazy thing to finally end.
For the first time in league history, the NFL allowed us into the homes of its most famous decision-makers … and we loved what we saw.
“Hard Knocks” gives us an up-close glimpse of the relentless, high-pressure world of pro football. But it’s really just reality TV that follows a familiar script.
The NFL has spent years turning a 16-game regular season into a year-long made-for-TV calendar, raking in billions upon billions in revenue. But the league’s media access has plummeted in the opposite direction, with coaches intentionally positioned behind distant podiums and star players protected with bubble wrap.
Less is less in the contemporary NFL. Except when it comes to money and power.
Fans are provided with endless highlights, intricate game breakdowns, breaking news and trade reactions, and fantasy buzz. But we rarely get to truly know the human beings sweating behind the masks or the coaches making all the decisions that you love or hate.
The virtual 2020 draft — shaky, glitchy and buffering — was a perfect antidote to all that. The NFL borrowed a page from MLB and the NBA, opening its front door and showing off its heart.
We didn’t need Las Vegas, streaming fountains and all the glitz. We received a better show: Coaches being dads, GMs social distancing, and players proudly surrounding themselves with immediate family.
For three days, the NFL didn’t look and feel like a cutthroat corporation. It operated like an essential small business, doing more with less and discovering another silver lining during the time of the coronavirus.