In an effort to slow down the spread of COVID-19, the NFL has closed down team facilities. For the draft, the league told clubs to draft from their homes — and each staff member had to work from their own homes.
So on Thursday evening, Broncos general manager John Elway and coach Vic Fangio weren’t in the same room for the draft. They each had set up headquarters in their own homes and Fangio almost had a technical disaster.
“It actually went pretty smooth,” Elway said in a Zoom conference call with reporters on Thursday evening. “We had a little hiccup before. I think Vic’s internet went out or almost went out early, so there was a little bit of a hiccup there, but other than that it actually went pretty smoothly.”
Fangio’s equipment froze moments before the draft started.
“About five minutes before the draft started everything went out in my house, not the power, but all of the internet and my TV wasn’t working,” Fangio said. “Everything froze up. Russ Trainor who is our IT guy was in a little bit of a panic and luckily there was some Comcast guys that came. They got it fixed in about five minutes, but everything froze.”
Fortunately, Fangio was up and running again as the draft kicked off.
Denver went on to select Alabama wide receiver Jerry Jeudy with the 15th overall pick in the first round. He was their top-rated receiver.
