Sean Payton defends team’s decision to draft from local brewery, which he calls ‘safest setup’

NFL: NFC Wild Card-Minnesota Vikings at New Orleans Saints

It’s unclear how NFL teams will operate during the 2020 NFL Draft, or where they will do it from, in the wake of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Some teams are mulling renting out a conference room in a hotel or convention center, although that raises issues about possibly spreading infection, among themselves, or even staffers.

As for the Saints, well, they’re planning to go a completely different route. The team has said it plans to relocate their draft war room to a local brewery. Dixie Brewery has an upstairs space they plan to use, but those around the league haven’t been all that fond of it.

Head coach Sean Payton doesn’t seem to care, though. In fact, he defended the decision, and called it the “safest setup” in the league.

“We might have the safest setup in the league for these meetings,” Payton texted to USA TODAY Sports on Thursday. “Remote location. Nobody here!”

“More importantly, the four of us in this room (are) all alone at home,” Payton added. “Temperatures taken prior to entering room. Each day…cleaning and sterilized.”

It will be interesting to see if the Saints really do pull the trigger on this move.

Arrow to top