J-man
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I don't think they need to adopt the NBA style. I like the way the NFL does things as far as trying to keep things fair and create parity.
But I do think the draft needs to be completely reconfigured. Lets face it, the NFL draft should in fact be illegal as it's completely unconstitutional. These are in fact just jobs and a person should have the right to choose the job he wants between the jobs offered.
But this was the reason the salary cap was installed in the NFL, to keep the richest teams from buying all the top talent. And obviously this would cause huge problems for the league and it's desire for parity. So what's the answer?
There would be a lot of details to work out, but I think they could have a system that, at least somewhat, allows for both.
(work with me here I'm doing this on the fly!)
1. A rookie pay scale is pre-set so players know how much money a team can pay them if selected by them. $ can most definitely be a factor for people selecting a job.
2. The NFL sets the draft order, worst team record gets top choice as usual.
3. The teams rank and submit their list of players they wish to draft, in the order they would want them. (Player Big Board)
(As players are selected and removed from availability the list would condense. Do this continually as the process proceeds.)
4. The players rank the teams in the order he wants to go there. A list of desired landing spots. (Team Big Board)
(A condensed list would be created from this master list for each block of draft picks as they are selected.)
5. Implement a limit in the number of slots (known as blocks) that a player can move up or down on his list in each block if selected in it.
6. The amount of slots would decrease as the rounds increase. 5 slots/block in rd 1, 4 slots in rd 2, 3 slots in rds 3-5, 2 slots in rds 6-7.
7. A player could not refuse a "job offer" from a team that has him as their top remaining player if no other team has them listed within that block.
8. On "Alignment Day" (I'm trade marking this) The top 5 teams in selection order release their top 5 player choices, in the order they rank them. From that list of 25 players, the top selected will be paired with the correlating team who both player and team have listed highest on their boards.
i.e. The highest slotted team who has player player X ranked highest on their board, which player X also has ranked highest in their destinations would get the right to hire said player.
Exp:
Lets say that player X is listed in the various top 5 slots of the teams selecting.
Jags ranks him 1st
Jets ranks him 5th
Mia ranks him 1st
Atl ranks him 2nd
Cincy ranks him 5th
Player X has the 5 teams selecting ranked in order of desired location.
Mia, Atl, NYJ, Jags, Cincy
Even though several teams have the player listed as their number 1 choice, Mia is highest on the players list and would get the player.
This is crazy, but I kind of like the idea. I'm not saying I have all the answers, especially considering that I just thought this up as I was responding to this post! And I'm sure I'm missing tons of details, but I think something like this could be worked out.
But I do think the draft needs to be completely reconfigured. Lets face it, the NFL draft should in fact be illegal as it's completely unconstitutional. These are in fact just jobs and a person should have the right to choose the job he wants between the jobs offered.
But this was the reason the salary cap was installed in the NFL, to keep the richest teams from buying all the top talent. And obviously this would cause huge problems for the league and it's desire for parity. So what's the answer?
There would be a lot of details to work out, but I think they could have a system that, at least somewhat, allows for both.
(work with me here I'm doing this on the fly!)
1. A rookie pay scale is pre-set so players know how much money a team can pay them if selected by them. $ can most definitely be a factor for people selecting a job.
2. The NFL sets the draft order, worst team record gets top choice as usual.
3. The teams rank and submit their list of players they wish to draft, in the order they would want them. (Player Big Board)
(As players are selected and removed from availability the list would condense. Do this continually as the process proceeds.)
4. The players rank the teams in the order he wants to go there. A list of desired landing spots. (Team Big Board)
(A condensed list would be created from this master list for each block of draft picks as they are selected.)
5. Implement a limit in the number of slots (known as blocks) that a player can move up or down on his list in each block if selected in it.
6. The amount of slots would decrease as the rounds increase. 5 slots/block in rd 1, 4 slots in rd 2, 3 slots in rds 3-5, 2 slots in rds 6-7.
7. A player could not refuse a "job offer" from a team that has him as their top remaining player if no other team has them listed within that block.
8. On "Alignment Day" (I'm trade marking this) The top 5 teams in selection order release their top 5 player choices, in the order they rank them. From that list of 25 players, the top selected will be paired with the correlating team who both player and team have listed highest on their boards.
i.e. The highest slotted team who has player player X ranked highest on their board, which player X also has ranked highest in their destinations would get the right to hire said player.
Exp:
Lets say that player X is listed in the various top 5 slots of the teams selecting.
Jags ranks him 1st
Jets ranks him 5th
Mia ranks him 1st
Atl ranks him 2nd
Cincy ranks him 5th
Player X has the 5 teams selecting ranked in order of desired location.
Mia, Atl, NYJ, Jags, Cincy
Even though several teams have the player listed as their number 1 choice, Mia is highest on the players list and would get the player.
This is crazy, but I kind of like the idea. I'm not saying I have all the answers, especially considering that I just thought this up as I was responding to this post! And I'm sure I'm missing tons of details, but I think something like this could be worked out.
