Averion Hurts Jr. is seated on the armrest of the family couch. Actually, it’s a leather love seat, but no one’s focused on that right now. It’s the second night of the 2020 NFL Draft, and America is watching this particular living room — tucked somewhere in Houston, Texas — for something other than furniture. A stationary ESPN camera, positioned in the corner of the room, provides the view. Averion, along with six others packed around him, gets the same view from his own TV.
That is until the broadcast cuts back to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. Standing in his New York basement, live from the league’s first-ever virtual draft, the figurehead of pro football looks down to one of his NFL-branded index cards.
