ClintPitts4Heisman
08-28-2009, 11:06 AM
First I'd like to start off by saying I love the NFL Draft. It is my favorite part of the season because every team can trace it's current state back to the draft. It's the best chance to really be a fan and second guess or evaluate what your team did. This is from someone who likes 'Batman Begins
more than Dark Knight, because I like to see the origins more than actual results.
With that said, the NFL Draft has a few flaws, which are getting worse every year.
1) The top 5 picks are not the best 5 picks to have anymore. You now have to pay so much money for a pick that the risk/reward don't match up anymore. Usually every year 2 of these picks bust and cripple a team's salary cap for the next 2-3 years.
The goal of the NFL Draft is to maintain competitive balance by giving the worst teams the best picks in the draft to add value to their team. Nowadays, due to the high salaries, the worst teams don't receive the best picks but the ability to choose the best talent. Since they are paying high prices for this talent it is difficult to add value to a team. Think about it this way, the NFL Draft is a blackjack table, temas like Bengals, Lions, and Raiders are forced to bet $100/hand while teams like the Patriots, Eagles, and Steelers bet $10/hand. This is one of the reasons why standings fluctuate so much year to year.
2) That is the problem from the Teams side. From the player/agent side, Players do not always go to the team that values them the most. If the Tennessee Titans thought that Micheal Crabtree was the next Jerry Rice, and was the only piece they needed to complete their team, they would have had to pay a huge price to jump up to take him. (Jumping from 30th pick to 9th would probably have cost 2 1st round picks and 2nd at least)
So a team like 49ers, who could have had Crabtree 10th on their board, ends up with him. The agent wants the player to go to the team that wants him the most to get the biggest contract and the player wants to go their to get the most playing time. (Not a good example in this case since Crabtree just seems to want money but you get the point)
Also from the NFL's point of view, you want every player to reach their highest potential, to keep ratings high and continue to generate interest in the sport. The player will devlop best on a team that wants him the most. (Obviously any team selecting Crabtree would make it a focus to develop him, but this argument is more important in later rounds)
So after saying all that, my idea for changing the draft is to make it basically a Draft Auction. Obviously this idea came from fantasy leagues but that doesn't make it a bad idea. Also I realize that this involves changing a process that is extremely popular but just because "It's the way we've always done it" doesn't mean it shouldn't change.
The idea would be going in each team would be given a rookie salary cap, the team finishing worst with the largest and the team winning the Super Bowl the smallest. I don't have any details on the scale but that would be the basis. Since it's just a maximum, it doesn't force the worst teams to risk the most money.
I haven't decided what teams would be bidding: I can't figure a way that teams would bid based on the money in the salary cap.
Example:
New York Jets have a $7.0m rookie salary cap based on order finished. They bid $5.0m for Mark Sanchez. Obviously Mark's agent is going to expect more than a $5.0m signing bonus.
That is why I think its best to use an arbitrary 'points' number. Worst team in the league starts with 200 points down to the Super Bowl Champ that starts with 120. (Just examples, don't get hung up on the numbers.
The draft would begin with the worst choosing a player to bid on. Also giving the worst teams another small benefit. Once a team is out of points that no longer nominate players. Draft continues until every team is out of points.
Breakdown of Pros and Cons:
Benefits:
Teams now get the players they value more than other teams. Players go where they are most wanted.
Teams are forced into high risk/reward situations. Obviously before no one made teams pick where they were slotted, but it was difficult to get appropriate value when trading down. Now a team can decide what is appropriate for them.
The current draft order gives teams 1 pick in every round(ignore compensatory). Some teams go into a draft looking for depth, while some are looking for 2-3 to start right away, but every team is forced to be somewhere around the middle, unless they start executing trades.
Now teams that believe they are only 1 piece away (Ex. NYJ-QB, MIN-QB, TEN-WR) can use their points on a player who can impact the team right away. Teams that need help in multiple areas (DET, CLE, CIN, most teams picking top 10) can spread out their points to build a more complete team.
Cons:
The popularity of the draft could take a big hit. Now with no idea when your team will pick someone, you literally have to watch the entire draft. Its possible this does begin more popular since its a new idea (imagine watching NYG and PHI trying to outbid each other for Jeremy Maclin). However, I expect this to kill the popularity of the draft among general fans.
Could the bidding process and rookie salary cap be anymore confusing? This is the area I need the most help, I can't figure out an easy to understand system to give the worst teams a small benefit without it being confusing.
Would this lead to more or less holdouts? Let's say St. Louis Rams win Jason Smith with a bid of 55 points with little competition. Later in the draft, Kansas City and Cleveland get into a huge bidding war over Tyson Jackson with the Chiefs winning with a bid of 65. When it comes contract time with Jason Smith, the Rams will argue his contract should be smaller than Jackson's. The agent will argue that the price doesn't mean Jackson is better than Smith.
Trades are gone. Trades are the most exciting part of the draft and this eliminates them. Technically teams could trade points but that isn't nearly as exciting.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, its basically a fun idea with a few flaws. Possible creating more problems than we currently have. If any could include an opinion on what they like or don't like about the idea, I would really appreciate it. Anyone planning to simply post 'This is stupid', just save your time...unless you could give reasons why it's stupid, that would help.
Sorry for such a long post but its a boring day at work and I needed something to do. And if anyone read this whole thing could you just let me know. I'm trying to decide if I should even bother writing stuff this long. Thanks.
more than Dark Knight, because I like to see the origins more than actual results.
With that said, the NFL Draft has a few flaws, which are getting worse every year.
1) The top 5 picks are not the best 5 picks to have anymore. You now have to pay so much money for a pick that the risk/reward don't match up anymore. Usually every year 2 of these picks bust and cripple a team's salary cap for the next 2-3 years.
The goal of the NFL Draft is to maintain competitive balance by giving the worst teams the best picks in the draft to add value to their team. Nowadays, due to the high salaries, the worst teams don't receive the best picks but the ability to choose the best talent. Since they are paying high prices for this talent it is difficult to add value to a team. Think about it this way, the NFL Draft is a blackjack table, temas like Bengals, Lions, and Raiders are forced to bet $100/hand while teams like the Patriots, Eagles, and Steelers bet $10/hand. This is one of the reasons why standings fluctuate so much year to year.
2) That is the problem from the Teams side. From the player/agent side, Players do not always go to the team that values them the most. If the Tennessee Titans thought that Micheal Crabtree was the next Jerry Rice, and was the only piece they needed to complete their team, they would have had to pay a huge price to jump up to take him. (Jumping from 30th pick to 9th would probably have cost 2 1st round picks and 2nd at least)
So a team like 49ers, who could have had Crabtree 10th on their board, ends up with him. The agent wants the player to go to the team that wants him the most to get the biggest contract and the player wants to go their to get the most playing time. (Not a good example in this case since Crabtree just seems to want money but you get the point)
Also from the NFL's point of view, you want every player to reach their highest potential, to keep ratings high and continue to generate interest in the sport. The player will devlop best on a team that wants him the most. (Obviously any team selecting Crabtree would make it a focus to develop him, but this argument is more important in later rounds)
So after saying all that, my idea for changing the draft is to make it basically a Draft Auction. Obviously this idea came from fantasy leagues but that doesn't make it a bad idea. Also I realize that this involves changing a process that is extremely popular but just because "It's the way we've always done it" doesn't mean it shouldn't change.
The idea would be going in each team would be given a rookie salary cap, the team finishing worst with the largest and the team winning the Super Bowl the smallest. I don't have any details on the scale but that would be the basis. Since it's just a maximum, it doesn't force the worst teams to risk the most money.
I haven't decided what teams would be bidding: I can't figure a way that teams would bid based on the money in the salary cap.
Example:
New York Jets have a $7.0m rookie salary cap based on order finished. They bid $5.0m for Mark Sanchez. Obviously Mark's agent is going to expect more than a $5.0m signing bonus.
That is why I think its best to use an arbitrary 'points' number. Worst team in the league starts with 200 points down to the Super Bowl Champ that starts with 120. (Just examples, don't get hung up on the numbers.
The draft would begin with the worst choosing a player to bid on. Also giving the worst teams another small benefit. Once a team is out of points that no longer nominate players. Draft continues until every team is out of points.
Breakdown of Pros and Cons:
Benefits:
Teams now get the players they value more than other teams. Players go where they are most wanted.
Teams are forced into high risk/reward situations. Obviously before no one made teams pick where they were slotted, but it was difficult to get appropriate value when trading down. Now a team can decide what is appropriate for them.
The current draft order gives teams 1 pick in every round(ignore compensatory). Some teams go into a draft looking for depth, while some are looking for 2-3 to start right away, but every team is forced to be somewhere around the middle, unless they start executing trades.
Now teams that believe they are only 1 piece away (Ex. NYJ-QB, MIN-QB, TEN-WR) can use their points on a player who can impact the team right away. Teams that need help in multiple areas (DET, CLE, CIN, most teams picking top 10) can spread out their points to build a more complete team.
Cons:
The popularity of the draft could take a big hit. Now with no idea when your team will pick someone, you literally have to watch the entire draft. Its possible this does begin more popular since its a new idea (imagine watching NYG and PHI trying to outbid each other for Jeremy Maclin). However, I expect this to kill the popularity of the draft among general fans.
Could the bidding process and rookie salary cap be anymore confusing? This is the area I need the most help, I can't figure out an easy to understand system to give the worst teams a small benefit without it being confusing.
Would this lead to more or less holdouts? Let's say St. Louis Rams win Jason Smith with a bid of 55 points with little competition. Later in the draft, Kansas City and Cleveland get into a huge bidding war over Tyson Jackson with the Chiefs winning with a bid of 65. When it comes contract time with Jason Smith, the Rams will argue his contract should be smaller than Jackson's. The agent will argue that the price doesn't mean Jackson is better than Smith.
Trades are gone. Trades are the most exciting part of the draft and this eliminates them. Technically teams could trade points but that isn't nearly as exciting.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, its basically a fun idea with a few flaws. Possible creating more problems than we currently have. If any could include an opinion on what they like or don't like about the idea, I would really appreciate it. Anyone planning to simply post 'This is stupid', just save your time...unless you could give reasons why it's stupid, that would help.
Sorry for such a long post but its a boring day at work and I needed something to do. And if anyone read this whole thing could you just let me know. I'm trying to decide if I should even bother writing stuff this long. Thanks.