The 2023 NFL Draft begins on Thursday, April 27, 2023.
The draft has become a must-see-television event for legions of fans who cannot travel to the host city to watch it in person.
It has evolved a lot from its early days when teams used chalkboards and bulletin boards.
Team coaches and front office personnel hole up in so-called draft “war” rooms within their facilities for the three-day draft.
Here is a peek inside some of the infamous NFL teams’ draft war rooms in recent years.
1. New York Giants 2023
The New York Giants have redesigned the team’s draft room.
It was an extensive process that included a facilities upgrade and a technology focus that makes information and video footage accessible at the touch of a button.
First look inside the NEW draft room 👀
"Giants Life: The Process" 🎥: https://t.co/k67hmSgYHi pic.twitter.com/3LWEUUGmzd
— New York Giants (@Giants) April 25, 2023
Everything is designed or implemented with speed and efficiency as the main goals since time is of the essence when the Giants (and all NFL teams) are on the clock.
Presumably, there are many backup systems in the event of power or internet outages since drafts in this room could potentially be paperless.
2. Los Angeles Rams, 2021
Draft room design was very creative during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Because large groups of people could not always convene at team headquarters, offsite arrangements had to be made.
The best offsite setup was the 2021 Los Angeles Rams draft room at a Malibu beach house
Somehow the Rams got Rocket Mortgage to sponsor this posh space that included a swimming pool, an ocean view, and a fireplace.
So the Rams converted a Malibu beach house into their draft war room, and will be operating out of it for this year’s draft (a sentence I can’t believe I just typed). Your move, Kliff! pic.twitter.com/7wK1guI0Pe
— Jourdan Rodrigue (@JourdanRodrigue) April 19, 2021
Perhaps the Rams should make this a permanent change since they won the Super Bowl in the same season.
3. New England Patriots, 2020
The 2020 NFL Draft was virtual in every respect.
At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, NFL coaches and front-office people were in their collective basements trying to make key decisions for their franchises.
That was particularly true of the 2020 New England Patriots who were facing their first season without Tom Brady.
Bill Belichick had a lot of work to do from his basement, but cameras caught this one particular iconic shot of a different decision-maker at the helm.
Still thinking about how Bill Belichick's dog stole the show at the 2020 NFL Draft 🥺😂 @Patriots pic.twitter.com/kEa5CzLCiR
— The Checkdown (@thecheckdown) March 13, 2021
Belichick’s dog manning the command station is a photo that will live on in NFL Draft history.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
