LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — A year ago, the NFL Draft staged probably its biggest entertainment production, with the city of Nashville throwing a party the league won’t soon forget. This year, the draft began with a moment of silence, Commissioner Roger Goodell speaking from his basement, an announcement that ESPN analyst Todd McShay has contracted COVID-19 and a word from Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
The first virtual NFL Draft opened with multi-window views of NFL teams, draft hopefuls and ESPN’s analysts at various sites.
Even with lots of moving parts in various places, the production went off without an early hitch. General managers in their homes. Coaches in their offices. And LSU quarterback Joe Burrow at home in Ohio with his parents.
About the only awkward moment, Burrow was watching the draft on his phone — headphones on — and had little reaction to the actual announcement when the Cincinnati Bengals took him with the No. 1 pick — the NFL’s first virtual draft pick.
Enough talk. Time to get to work. https://t.co/EAK97ZePE8
— Joey Burrow (@Joe_Burrow10) April 24, 2020
A year ago, Burrow was part of the crowd in Nashville. ESPN’s Suzy Kolber asked him, if she’d told him then that he was going to go No. 1 in this year’s draft, what would he have thought?
"I would have told you that you were crazy," Burrow said. "I knew we were going to have a really good season because we had great players. … But to jump up to No. 1 overall is crazy to me, but it’s a dream come true."
The 6-foot-3, 221-pound QB from Athens, Ohio, is the most decorated player in LSU football history. He finished 2019 with 5,671 yards passing, 60 touchdowns and only six interceptions. He also ran for 368 yards and five touchdowns.
Asked how he went from being a virtual unknown, in draft circles, to the head of the pack, Burrow said the answer was not complicated.
"I wasn’t very good my junior year," he said. "It’s pretty simple. I worked really hard to get better, and we just gelled as a team to do what we did."
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