NFL Teams love to throw smokescreens out into the media,to get other teams off their scent during the 2020 NFL Draft, but how many of them carry any weight?
The NFL loves to leak information to the media, during draft time. As much as teams say that they want all information kept in-house, they use the media as a weapon all the time. Giving the media false information, also known as a smokescreen, is a ploy that NFL front offices have used for years, to hide their draft intentions.
Teams will use a plethora of tactics to keep their plans hidden from other front offices, around the league. Some will range from white lies, such as “Team X is high on player X”, or there will be elaborate plans to keep information sealed. In 2017, the Chicago Bears held a secret dinner with Mitchell Trubisky, and apparently made the reservation under a fake name.
Some of these rumors have truth to them. At the NFL scouting combine last year, the rumor that the Arizona Cardinals were targeting Heisman Trophy winning Quarterback, Kyler Murray. Murray was inevitably drafted by Arizona, and was the offensive rookie of the year, for the 2019 season.