2020 Remote NFL Draft

Submission 2,502

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Overview

2020 Remote NFL Draft refers to the 85th annual meeting of National Football League franchises, held over videoconferencing due to the coronavirus pandemic, to select new players for the 2020 NFL season. The draft, held over three days in April, featured players like Isaiah Wilson and CeeDee Lamb reacting to draft picks from their homes spawning memes and viral video clips on Twitter.

Background

On April 6th, 2020, Twitter user @AdamSchefter^[5] shared an announcement screenshot saying, "Now official: NFL now has informed teams it will do a virtual draft this year. GMs and HCs now will be drafting from their homes" (shown below). The tweet gained over 7,700 likes and 2,600 retweets in 22 days.

On April 23rd, the first round of the draft aired and ESPN uploaded clips from to YouTube (shown below, left). That night, YouTuber Shonte W uploaded a video featuring two viral moments from players Ceedee Lamb and Isaiah Wilson that night (shown below, right). The video garnered over 4,600 views in five days.

Spread

On April 23rd, 2020, many Twitter users began reacting to certain portions of the first night, including a moment where CeeDee Lamb takes a phone from his girlfriend, Isaiah's mother takes his girlfriend off his lap and the view of coach Mike Vrabel's house. On April 23rd, Twitter user @jemelehill tweeted the video of Lamb captioned, "Excellent recovery by CeeDee Lamb. This is a Pro Bowl move" (shown below). The video gained over 8.1 million views and 37,400 likes in five days.

That same day, Twitter users @HiMyNameIsSeton^[3] and @byDavidGarner^[4] both commented on the odd scene at football coach Mike Vrabel's house. Their tweets accumulated over 2,000 likes and 800 likes respectively (shown below).

The next day, Twitter user @EmWatler^[4] tweeted a clip of Isaiah Wilson's girlfriend being taken off his lap by his mom with the caption, "This first round was pure comedy. Idk what was better, Ceedee Lamb’s girl trying to grab his phone or Isaiah Wilson’s girl getting snatched up on national television" (shown below). The tweet received over 4,700 likes and 1,500 retweets in four days. Vulture^[1] published an article on the memes relating to the NFL draft and Deadline^[2] published an article calling the unconventional draft coverage a success.