Saints to stage draft war room inside local brewery

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The New Orleans Saints will set up their draft war room at Dixie Brewery, a local establishment owned by franchise matriarch Gayle Benson.

Teams across the NFL are being forced to relocate their war rooms because the NFL shut down their facilities in wake of the COVID-19 crisis. Saints head coach Sean Payton was among those to be diagnosed with the coronavirus, though he's since recovered.

"For every one of these teams, it's obviously going to be different than what we're used to," Payton said on a conference call, according to USA TODAY Sports' Michael Middlehurst-Schwartz. "We're going to need to be more tech-savvy with the scouts."

Payton added that the Saints will limit the number of people inside the war room and maintain social distancing within it.

The 2020 draft was supposed to be held in Las Vegas, but the league canceled those plans because of the pandemic.

The first round of the draft will take place April 23.