LA Rams fans face many challenges this 2020 NFL Draft

While the NFL tests and works out the many challenges of running the 2020 NFL Draft, how prepared are you to enjoy the virtual 2020 NFL Draft?

LA Rams fans will soon have the opportunity to enjoy their team’s selections from the 2020 NFL Draft. The NFL Draft is not a meaningful event for many in the US. I get that. After all, it follows closely on the heels of March Madness, a time when everyone seems to get the NCAA college basketball fever. Orthodontists, car dealerships, and even funeral directors offer March Madness promotional events. Pick the right teams, and you could win free braces, funerals, or even a new car.

The NFL Draft is a far different celebration. Where the bracket is every-person-for-themself, the NFL Draft is the first dawn of the upcoming NFL season. It allows the same groups of NFL fans who gathered weekly at their favorite sports bar to gather once more. Ignore the demands of the day, sit down in front of a cold pitcher of beer and a piping hot pizza, and compare notes, cheering your team’s selections of NCAA hopefuls, and share a moment of football fandom at a time when the NFL season is still months away.

The NFL Draft is the gateway, the time where the NFL is truly emerging from its winter slumber to shine upon fans once more.  After the draft, NFL personnel offices scramble to sign up undrafted free agents. Then comes OTAs (organized team activities), summer camp, training camp, preseason, and then the new NFL season.

But the 2020 NFL Draft is unlike any draft you may have experienced. There will be no pitchers of beer, no piping hot pizzas, no sports bars, and likely no crowds to cheer or jeer with each selection. So how can the Rams fans prepare to enjoy such a unique experience?  Well, having found myself in some very remote areas of the world, let me share five tips to maximize your entertainment value for this NFL Draft.

Step one – plan a mini-tailgate party. 

Since you won’t have the opportunity to be catered to on this grand event, you will need to cater to yourself. That means you will need to stockpile the snacks, beverages, and even meals to enjoy over the three-day event.  I had found that over the draft my tastebuds change dramatically. One day I may enjoy chili dogs, chips, and cold beer.  The next day I may want pizza and iced tea. And for the last day marathon, It could be brauts and brewskis. But whatever your tailgating treats may turn out to be, plan ahead and accordingly.  Remember, it’s still a three-day event, and you won’t want to be cooking during the draft. Pretzels, chips, fruit platters, cheese, meats, corn chips, whatever you enjoy.

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Step two – Mock your own draft.

Nothing makes the NFL Draft more enjoyable than trying to pre-determine who will be picked in each round.  Even the best of us can get it completely wrong by one bad pick. If you think it’s easy to do, try the NFL.com Predict the Pick game. It’s far tougher than you might think.

And with each selection, you have the motivation to cheer for your selection, even if you do not follow that team. The fun begins from the moment the first incorrect prediction. A mock draft quickly falls apart as one wrong prediction multiplies as teams either cannot pick your player (already picked) or teams trade up or down in the draft, changing the rules. In the end, four or more correct out of 32 chances is a pretty good day.

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Step three – Charge up all your electronic devices

Despite the commitment of televised broadcasts, you will need solid internet and all your electronic devices to be charged fully for the three-day event.  Of course, you will want to follow us on Twitter: @RamblinFan throughout the draft. But you will also want to look up draft profiles of players, NFL team needs, draft history, and lots more.

So charge up everything and have them ready.  I have gone so far as to use a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a notepad, and a smartphone simultaneously in the past when I lived in Alaska. So be sure to be prepared.

Step four –  Prepare to research players names during the Draft, frequently.

The hardest part of any draft occurs when some team names a college prospect you have never heard of. Or worse yet, a college player you THOUGHT you knew, but a current development suddenly has that player falling or rising to places on the draft board nobody has reported previously.

If you get too distracted by chasing down the details of one player, you may miss multiple selections and fall behind.  Or worse yet, you find a player selected, only to learn afterward that some trade happened in the draft and the details have not yet been shared. Keep a paper and pencil handy, and jot down notes to yourself for follow up later.

Step five –  Reserve judgment on your team’s selections for several days.

Inevitably, the LA Rams will trade up, back, or make a “wth?” selection in the 2020 NFL Draft. While it’s not uncommon for a reaction, hold up judging on the draft for several days.  The reason? Teams view the NFL Draft as a whole, not by individual selections.  And their draft board may be far different from what we expect.

Teams look at a draft to fill all needs. To do so, the team may address different positions early, knowing that there are other options for positions later in the draft. The Rams, for example, have no picks on day one, four picks on day two, and three picks on day three.

So it’s hard to get a full roster picture even on day two of the Rams selections.  This team will rely upon all seven picks. And the Rams may even be determining priority undrafted free agents as integral players for the 2020 roster.

The 2020 NFL Draft will not deliver incredible entertainment to your doorstep. This year, each of us will need to work a bit harder to find the same entertainment value.  But it will be worth it.  In fact, it may even be a bit more enjoyable. After all, you will have earned it this year.