Other than head coach Kyle Shanahan's internet temporarily crashing about 30 minutes before the start of the first round, San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch felt good about how the NFL's first virtual draft went.
Now, every NFL Draft is virtual. Team decision-makers aren't typically on-hand in the draft's physical location to run their selections up to the commissioner. They are usually bunkered together with the team owner and other essential staff in a draft war room.
This year, however, was very different. Lynch and Shanahan weren't even together, as they typically are. Of course, this is all due to the coronavirus pandemic and the need for social distancing.
With so many NFL decision-makers working separately from home, Lynch, like many others, felt that would mean a significantly reduced number of draft-day (or days) trades. That was kind of ironic because only one 49ers selection, No. 217 overall in the seventh round, was one that they entered the draft with. Even that one was acquired via a trade with the Detroit Lions in 2018.
"I would say, first off, I wasn't too prophetic because I think right before, I was asked, 'What do you anticipate in this virtual draft?' And I said, 'Well, I think there will be less trades,'" Lynch told Colin Cowherd on Tuesday.
San Francisco didn't finish the draft with a single one of its original draft picks. In fact, Lynch and company tied the record for the most draft-day trades.
"Some of the obvious ones, up front, you can do a lot of the legwork," Lynch continued. "But then, I always used what I learned at FOX; John Madden always used to say, 'What happens when a game breaks out?' You can do all the preplanning you want, but then once you get into the draft, you've got to be able to adapt."
Lynch went on to explain the 49ers' strategy to handle the draft, and it involved a whole lot of delegation and trust among his staff. Lynch had eight teams with which he would handle communications. The rest was split among VPs of player personnel Adam Peters and Martin Mayhew, and EVP of football operations Paraag Marathe.
Said Lynch: "The Tampa trade, I think Adam Peters was dealing with his counterpart, John Spytek, and then they just kind of said, 'Hey, do you want to go with it? Here's the trade.'"
As for how the draft was handled at the league level, Lynch felt the whole process went very smoothly.
