Zac Taylor feels “very, very comfortable” with virtual draft

[Who Dey]

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While some coaches and some teams might have concerns about how a virtual draft is going to work, Bengals coach Zac Taylor is looking forward to it.

“I think our guys have really embraced it and done a good job of adjusting,” Taylor said of technology on a conference call posted on the team’s Twitter account. “We’re excited to see what the draft looks like this way. I know there are some people uneasy around the league about it, but I’m excited to see how it all plays out and what it looks like and who can adjust the best.”

Ravens coach John Harbaugh has said he’s concerned about unauthorized entry into videoconferencing during the April 23-25 event. A report Wednesday indicated some coaches and front office employees are leery about having IT workers enter their homes.

Others worry about technical glitches that might happen while on the clock, though the league will make allowances for legitimate issues.

The Bengals have the advantage of time. They hold the No. 1 overall pick, and in fact, lead off all seven rounds.

So they will open the draft with the first round on Thursday, the second round on Friday and the fourth round on Saturday.

“We’ve had meetings with everybody in the building over the last three weeks. We all feel real comfortable with it,” Taylor said. “You can make phone calls. It does benefit us, because we pick at the top of the round in a lot of those rounds, so you’re coming off an open day, really, and so we have some communication that can take place over an 18-hour period in a couple of those rounds. Again, we feel very, very comfortable with the process that’s going to unfold for us. We’ve had great communication throughout.

“If we don’t get the pick off on time for three of our first four rounds, then [director of player personnel] Duke [Tobin] will be sitting here doing his press conference. We’ll have plenty of time to sort that stuff out. Worse-case scenario, you’ve got your cell phone on, and you talk somebody on the phone like everybody else does. I don’t anticipate any issues on our end.”