NFL's 32-Team Mock Draft Test Literally Had a Glitch at Pick No. 1

The 2020 NFL Draft is taking place in a virtual format, much like you and your buddies would go about your annual fantasy football draft. With the big night just days away, the league held a mock draft for all 32 teams on Monday afternoon and...it didn't go well.

According to ESPN's Adam Schefter, the virtual draft suffered a technical glitch with the very first pick. Yup, it happened that quickly.

Text from a participant on the NFL’s mock draft that started at 1 pm EST. “Mock draft today already technical glitch w Cincinnatis 1st pick!!! Brutal.”
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) April 20, 2020

Of course, this isn't ideal considering we're just days away from the actual event. As for the first pick, it didn't belong to the Cincinnati Bengals in this test format. Rather, to prevent teams from showing their hand ahead of the draft, pick No. 1 was designated to the Dallas Cowboys.

Everything's bigger in Texas, even technical issues.

I believe #Cowboys were making the first pick for the purposes of this exercise. https://t.co/ofF3xpRH15
— Ed Werder (@WerderEdESPN) April 20, 2020

Schefter's ESPN colleague, Dianna Russini, provided further elaboration on the issue. Multiple coaches and general managers texted her that the cause of this problem is a lack of bandwidth. As a result, the network slowed down to a snails pace.

I’m texting with multiple coaches and GM’s who are on this mock draft call and everybody is saying the same thing which is band width is a problem. There are many communication issues.
— Dianna Russini (@diannaESPN) April 20, 2020

Luckily, the NFL set up this mock draft with the purpose of preventing technical difficulties on Thursday night. However, it's a bit discouraging that the simulator fizzled out mere minutes after the start of the test. Expect the league's IT team to work day and night to resolve these issues.

If not, the first round of the NFL Draft might be the longest in the event's history.