NFL cancels pre-draft visits and Michigan cancels pro day because of coronavirus
The NFL is responding to evolving concerns over COVID-19 by eliminating as much travel as possible, particularly air travel.
The NFL has cancelled pre-draft visits. Each team normally has 30 pre-draft visits where they can bring prospects into their facility for interviews. The NFL Scouting Combine has cancelled their medical recheck, which updates teams on the status of players recovering from injuries or medical procedures.
The Michigan Wolverines’ football program announced this afternoon that it has cancelled its annual Pro Day that was scheduled for tomorrow afternoon at Schembechler Hall, due to the coronavirus.
NFL scouts from all around the country were scheduled to attend to watch several of U-M’s top pro prospects work out for the final time before April’s draft.
Teams are about to pull the plug on coaches, scouts, and personnel people flying to workouts.
We have already heard the New York Jets, New York Giants, Washington Redskins, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and most recently the Minnesota Vikings are suspending their travel for their scouts.
This is going to be interesting, but the people who will suffer the most from this will not be the big schools, it will be the small school players. This year only 14 small schoolers were invited to the Combine, and many of the solid players will not be able to work out in front of teams with this virus going viral.
NFL Draft Diamonds was created to assist the underdogs playing the sport. We call them diamonds in the rough. My name is Damond Talbot, I have worked extremely hard to help hundreds of small school players over the past several years, and will continue my mission. We have several contributors on this site, and if they contribute their name and contact will be in the piece above. You can email me at nfldraftdiamonds@gmail.com