There was a moment of online levity last week as the Vikings huddled together but separately on the eve of the NFL’s first all-virtual draft.
The team’s IT department staffers were wearing matching T-shirts in a playful nod to an NFL ruling last month. To prepare for this most unusual of drafts, the league deemed only IT personnel as essential employees who could enter team facilities closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The shirts said, ‘I’m an essential employee,’ ” said Vikings General Manager Rick Spielman. “And then they made a T-shirt for me. I’m sitting there in this big black T-shirt with white letters.