With teams not allowed to bring players in for visits due to coronavirus travel restrictions, teams are having to talk to players via FaceTime. There is no time to interview players you don’t want just to throw teams off like in the past. The league has put down rules that really limit those interactions. All the cards are on the deck available to see. Today, we found out that Justin Herbert has at least two serious suitors. The Chargers and Raiders are very interested in him.
The following is from NFL.com:
“NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported Monday that Herbert has a video call with the Las Vegas Raiders today, and the signal-caller previously spoke with the Los Angeles Chargers in the same capacity.
In lieu of traditional meetings with players, NFL clubs are using video conferences to get to know potential draftees. These “visits” are used by coaches and front offices to get to know a player, test their knowledge of schemes, etc. While some substance is lost by not having in-person visits — most notably the inability to do medical tests — video meetings at least provide teams and players a chance to speak.
Each call between clubs and prospects can last no more than an hour, per the league. Teams can schedule no more than three telephone or video conferences with an individual draft-eligible player per week. And any telephone or video conference must be reported to the Player Personnel department upon completion, along with the call participants, date and time of the call, and total length of the call.”
There is no time to throw teams off. There are only 4 weeks left until the 2020 NFL Draft. That means teams are only getting 28 FaceTime calls left to potential prospects. Interviewing someone just to set a smokescreen would be incredibly unwise to waste one of those calls.
The Chargers interest is obvious. Tyrod Taylor is the only real quarterback on the roster. LA wants to draft their next guy. For the Raiders, it’s a bit more mysterious. They have Derek Carr and just gave Marcus Mariota a pretty penny. Las Vegas also holds the 12th and 19th pick. Would they trade up to secure Herbert?
