ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Denver Broncos coach Vic Fangio had the technical hiccup many had feared in an all-virtual NFL draft.
Fangio said his internet service and cable service “went out” just minutes before the first round of the draft was set to begin Thursday night.
“About five minutes before the draft started everything went out in my house,” Fangio said after Thursday’s first round was completed. “Not the power, all the internet, my TV wasn’t working, everything froze up.”
The Broncos had Russ Trainor, the team’s senior vice president of information technology, stationed at Fangio’s house, and at that moment Fangio said Trainor was “in a little bit of a panic.”
Fangio didn’t have to wait through a four-hour window for the cable repairman to arrive as “luckily some Comcast guys came and they got it fixed in about five minutes.”
After that initial trouble, things went off without any more technical issues for the Broncos as they discussed some potential trades, both to move up in the round earlier in the evening, as well as an attempt to get back in the first round after they had already made Alabama wide receiver Jerry Jeudy their pick at No. 15. Broncos president of football operations/general manager John Elway said a receiver was the team’s “top target” going into the night and that Jeudy was the top wide receiver on Denver’s draft board.
“I think Vic’s internet went out or almost went out early … but other than that it actually went pretty smoothly,” Elway said. “And as everybody got more comfortable with it, with the trade talks and the different people that were calling, people [just] got more comfortable with it. So it actually went rather smoothly.”
