It is far down the list of unfortunate realities the COVID-19 outbreak has caused, but in NFL circles, it is still a big one — the altering of the pre-draft process.
The rules to an already tough game have been changed. Teams will have almost no real access to players. They won't be able to bring them into their facility. They won't even get to see some of them workout. Hitting on draft prospects will be arguably harder than it has ever been, which is saying something considering how hard it already was.
The front offices that will survive these changes are the ones who have already gathered the most information, know how to use that information and have done the most scouting prior to things being shut down. The front offices that are able to adjust on the fly, open to new ways of doing things and forward thinking will be able to handle the drastic changes.
Which is exactly why Howie Roseman and the Eagles will have a leg up on most teams.
"There are no excuses at this time of year," Roseman said recently.
Howie Roseman has not been perfect during his time as general manager of the Eagles. Far from it. There is no denying, however, that his strengths as a general manager will be a major advantage over the next month.
Ask around, and you will find in NFL circles that the Eagles' front office is viewed as one of the best run in the league. It is very unlikely any front office collects more unique data than Roseman's front office. Very few front offices are more analytically driven than the one Roseman has built. Their scouting department is viewed as one of the best in the NFL, and at events like the Senior Bowl and NFL Combine, the Eagles are always among the best represented.
Roseman's way of doing things hasn't always lead to perfect results in the draft, but it is going to matter over the next month, as teams that haven't been doing their homework are now left without some of the resources they have been planning on using. The Giants, for example, just hired "computer folks" for the first time this offseason.
The Eagles, meanwhile, seem ready to go.
"The communication with our staff has been tremendous. Whether it is with Coach Pederson, whether it is with Jeffrey (Lurie), whether it is with Andy Weidel and our personnel staff," Roseman said. "I get calls every night from coaches telling me about guys they like, they are interviewing these guys. I think the one thing we have is time. We can dive into all these things and try to do whatever we can to have the best offseason that we possibly can. Where we are sitting vs. where a lot of people in our community are sitting, there are no excuses."
Whether Roseman's advantage over other front offices will result in a strong draft remains to be seen, but one thing is clear — the Eagles need every advantage they can get. This is a critical draft for Roseman, who enters with eight picks, a self-proclaimed need to get young talent on the roster and an absolute requirement to hit on whatever receiver he does draft.
Having that kind of check list heading into a draft is never a good thing. It would be hard to check off all those boxes any year, let alone one with so many changes at the last second. That is the bad news.
The good news is that Roseman just might have the front office in place to pull it off.
You can reach Eliot Shorr-Parks on Twitter at @EliotShorrParks or email him at esp@94wip.com!
