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Speaking on a conference call following a virtual meeting of league owners, Pash said that “active discussions” are ongoing about what will happen after that point. Earlier Thursday, the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game, which was scheduled to kick off the preseason schedule on Aug. 6 in Canton, Ohio, was canceled.

The league continues to plan for a full regular season, though the landscape is ever-changing as other sports leagues have begun returning to work, with increasing reports of players testing positive for the coronavirus in various sports.

Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott, one of the most high-profile players known to have contracted the coronavirus, also acknowledged that he was concerned about player safety when the NFL returns.

“I just feel like there’s a lot of moving parts that have to be figured out,” Elliott said on a Twitch feed. “I just don’t know how they can keep the players [healthy]. You gotta put the health of the players first.

“And it’s not even so much, I would say, the players’ health — because I got corona, and it really didn’t affect me much. But a lot of people have kids — they may have kids with asthma; they may have newborn babies; their parents or grandparents may live with them. … We have to find ways to make sure that players and their families — and the coaches also and their families — aren’t put at risk.

“Hey, I hope we play. I wanna let you guys know: I do hope that we have a season. But it has to be right. It has to — we gotta put the health of the players and the coaches and the support staff first. I think that’s important.”

Although the organization has done plenty, it’s determined to do more.

Players were given the day off on June 9, but Stefanski instructed them to do something good in the community to honor Floyd, whose private funeral was held the same day in Houston. Meanwhile, Stefanski, Berry and other front-office staffers visited the site where Rice was killed.

Berry said he couldn’t stomach watching the clip showing the final minutes of Floyd’s life.

“Honestly … I-I couldn’t. I can’t watch the whole thing,” he said. “When I see the video, I think about my two Black sons. I think about my brother. I think about my college roommates. People like that, who could be him. … It just resonates a little too personally.”

Fear. Helplessness. Anger.

“Probably, any Black man in America can see himself in that situation,” Berry said. “But I think it’s more the thought of the people that you love and you can’t necessarily control where they are at all times. You can’t protect them. I’m not going to be able to protect my two little boys for life. And I’m sure that’s the same feelings my dad had for me and my brother.”

As one of the only two Black GMs in the NFL, Berry understands the power and importance of his platform. But his status within the league isn’t what prompted him to craft the email to Browns employees, he said.

“It’s more that I want to see tangible, meaningful action around this cause because I think it’s the right thing to do,” he said. “The thing that struck me is, we’ve had a number of these types of incidents over our history, and certainly within recent history.

“And I think the emotion, the passion, the things that people are feeling now — at some point, the emotion is going to wane some. At least nationally. And the important part is being able to channel that energy into something that’s productive and actionable so that all of these tragedies don’t happen in vain.”

“… the things that people are feeling now — at some point, the emotion is going to wane some. … And the important part is being able to channel that energy into something that’s productive and actionable so that all of these tragedies don’t happen in vain.”

Browns GM Andrew Berry

Berry credited Stefanski and veteran players with partaking in and encouraging dialogue about recent events during team meetings. But Berry didn’t see the same level of collective engagement on the business side of the building.

So he started thinking about it. Then he shared his idea for the email challenge with ownership, Stefanski, chief strategy officer Paul DePodesta, senior vice president of communications Peter John-Baptiste and several trusted colleagues. On the morning of June 5, Berry’s email went out.

The GM recorded his video message to the Browns community. He said he’s not worried about receiving criticism from fans who are frustrated about social justice issues seeping into the sports domain.

“There are some things that are bigger than football. And I think this is one of those things,” Berry said. “To me, this isn’t a political issue. This is a human issue. Eradicating racial injustice is something that everyone should be behind.”

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The participants for this mock draft, in order of draft position, were: Matt Bowen, Kyle Soppe, Stephania Bell, Joe Kaiser, Daniel Dopp, Mike Clay, Mike Triplett, Tristan H. Cockcroft, Eric Karabell and Keith Lipscomb.

So how many running backs went in the first round? Did Lamar Jackson or Patrick Mahomes go first? And which highly rated players slid the furthest?

You can check out all that and more; all the picks from 1-160 are listed below.

Round 1

Round 2

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Round 7

Round 8

Round 9

Round 10

Round 11

Round 12

Round 13

Round 14