By Amy Tennery
NEW YORK (Reuters) – The third and final day of the NFL Draft kicked off on Saturday with the Washington Redskins trading seven-time Pro Bowl offensive tackle Trent Williams to the San Francisco 49ers for a fifth-round pick this year and a third round selection in 2021.
The trade came early in the fourth round of the draft, which was taken to a “virtual” format for the first time ever, as the COVID-19 outbreak has forced prospects, coaches and personnel into lockdown.
Teams will continue to fill out their rosters in rounds four to seven as Commissioner Roger Goodell maintains that the upcoming season, set to kick off Sept. 10, will move forward as scheduled.
Williams, who sought a trade away from Washington after a long-standing dispute with the team, will land with the Niners as the reigning NFC champions lose six-time Pro Bowler Joe Staley, who plans to retire, according to the NFL Network.
The quarterback-rich draft has gone largely without any technological glitches, as the league adapts to its scaled-back format away from the usual glamour of the annual affair.
Three quarterbacks, including Heisman Trophy-winning first pick Joe Burrow, University of Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa and Oregon’s Justin Herbert, were among the first six selections for the first time since 1999.
One of the rare few live sports events left on the calendar in the COVID-19 era, the first night of the draft drew a record-breaking average of more than 15.6 million viewers tuning in on Thursday.
(Reporting By Amy Tennery; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
