PHILADELPHIA _ Temple center Matt Hennessy expected to meet with a number of NFL teams in preparation for next month's entry draft.
What Hennessy didn't foresee was that those visits would take place in his mother's living room in Bardonia, N.Y., with Hennessy staring into his laptop's camera.
The league has shut down all team facilities because of the coronavirus pandemic, and has forbidden teams from holding their usual 30 prospect visits, which usually are supplemented by visits from local prospects who don't count toward the 30. Hennessy had planned to meet with Howie Roseman, Doug Pederson and the Eagles as a local prospect. Now he's a virtual prospect instead. As is the case with hundreds of other draft hopefuls nationwide.
The NFL has scrapped plans for its usual glitzy draft festival, which was to be Las Vegas' welcome to the league, as the Raiders move into their new home. The April 23-25 draft will be held remotely, with details to come.
Football is the only major sport that hasn't completely shut down so far, the league having determined that it could hold free agency and the draft without violating any quarantining procedures. Some people welcome the diversion, others think trying to carry on with business as usual is unseemly.
