March Madness was wiped out. The NBA and NHL seasons were interrupted. The baseball season is on hold. There has been no live sports to take us away from the drudgery of quarantine life. That changes to a degree tonight.
The NFL will have its annual draft. But instead of the usual crowd booing Commissioner Roger Goodell (who won't be able to give out his usual fist bumps and hugs), it's all going to be virtual. But it will at least be something.
That said, the Houston Texans, who have had a tumultuous off-season that included the trade of DeAndre Hopkins to Arizona, will sit out the first round of the draft tonight (they traded their pick to Miami last summer). As of now, the Texans have the 40th overall pick, which is in tomorrow night's second round.
So what will the Texans do? Former Texans General Manager Charley Casserly, now with the NFL Network, told sister station Sports Talk 790 the team should draft for need.
"I look at their team, and cornerback sticks out to me as an area that they can use some help," Casserly said.
The former executive says it's about getting the most value out of that second round pick as well.
"You can set your board by best player available and then make a trade to fill your need. That's the way you should do it. As long as you get value, that's all that counts," Casserly explained.
Bill O'Brien is now firmly entrenched as the coach and GM. Casserly says there's pressure on to get those picks right, and that O'Brien has to lean on his scouting department to do that.
"His time is limited. He's doing this only for a couple of months a year. When you're caught in a situation like we are in, when all you can do is look at tape, you better have good scouts to rely upon," Casserly stated.
The Cincinnati Bengals own the first overall pick tonight. They are expected to take LSU star and Heisman Trophy award winning quarterback Joe Burrow.