Why do NFL GMs and coaches need so many screens for their draft war rooms?

One general manager has 25 SCREENS!

This is a question I’m hoping someone can answer, because I’m starting to wonder what exactly is going on here, and I know others are wondering the same.

(In my best Jerry Seinfeld voice:) What’s the deal with all the screens?

Specifically, I’ve now seen images or stories about the war room setups for NFL general managers and coaches that they’ll all have, and there’s a recurring theme (with some exceptions).

Most of them have an abundance of computer and/or TV screens. And I’m trying to figure out why they need them all.

Seriously: look at John Lynch’s arrangement!

That’s kind of daunting, isn’t it?

Chargers general manager Tom Telesco has SO MANY LAPTOPS!

Sean McVay’s is giving me a bit of a headache:

And then there’s this absurdity from Seahawks general manager John Schneider, who RIPPED UP HIS WALLS to make this work:

TWENTY-FIVE SCREENS???

I tried doing the math on this both with my coworkers and in a group chat with some friends of mine — maybe there’s one screen for the NFL’s draft feed, one for the televised broadcast, one for your team’s war room, one with the live and updated team big board, one with the famous draft trade chart and then perhaps a personal laptop with your positional rankings and such.

That’s a total of six screens. So maybe we should all worry when we see Giants GM Dave Gettelman and his ONE screen?

Chicago Bears GM Ryan Pace has seven monitors, per WGN, and the hope is other team IT personnel — including those who will spend the draft in Winnebagos — will boost the bandwidth like Pace’s employees did:

“They boosted the bandwidth, and now there’s a cord directly from the router upstairs, all the way down the stairs, all the way to the dining room,” said Pace of his connectivity. “Hopefully nobody trips over the cord or does anything with the vacuum again.”

Seahawks coach Pete Carroll has wrap-around boards and seven screens:

Also, an aside: What does Lions GM Bob Quinn need a printer for?

Here’s my ultimate point: it seems like the draft will already have a chance to be a chaotic mess if there are technical problems. Having to figure out which screen to look at when the clock is ticking down AND listen to a thousand different voices all interrupting each other at once like any other Zoom call? That seems like complicating an already-complicated situation.

So … maybe Gettelman is secretly the smart one here?

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