3. Some teams will go one big way or the other on trading away 2021 draft picks
There’s a school of thought that because of the way this year’s draft is being conducted, there won’t be as many trades.
Whatever. The phones still work.
The trades, though, will be far more strategic and pragmatic for some teams, and we’ll be able to figure out how they’re viewing and projecting the next 6-to-18 months after the fact.
Here’s the one big call every team will have to make, at least in some way: will there be a 2020 college football season?
Every general manager already has some idea of what’s coming in next year’s draft no matter what, but if there’s no season, it’s going to be the toughest talent evaluation job in decades. Remember, Joe Burrow would’ve been a fifth-round pick this year if there wasn’t a 2019 college football season.
It’s not going to be every team, and no one will openly admit that it’s part of the overall strategy, but depending on salary cap situations, expiring contracts, free agent question marks, and all of the other parts to putting together a roster a year in advance, watch out for some more-interesting-than-usual trades.
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Here’s the theory.
There’s the if-there’s-no-2020-college-football-season version. Depending on your overall situation, you might be better off loading up now on a ton of 2020 draft picks and trading away your 2021 selections – because it’ll be a total guess after the top 30 or so next year.
The GMs and scouts will have a far better and more true evaluation on the last 150 picks this weekend than they will in next year’s draft if there’s no season. Call it the devils you know draft strategy.
Or, there’s the bet-on-the-season version. There will be at least one team out there looking to buy up as much stock as possible in next year’s draft in the hopes that there is a season – or, if the GM feels like he has a good handle on most of the top 300 prospects.
Instead of taking a bunch of fliers on later picks this year, do you get rid of them all for better positioning and more selections in 2021? No one will trade out of next year’s projected top 20 picks – those will be relatively obvious – but there will be at least one seller out there for the later rounds.