Evaluating the draft on the basis of rule changes...

[jr3153]

Thanks for the praised. I am actually shocked nobody has called me an idiot yet.

I agree whole heartedly on Parcells

Idiot!


Joke ( I dont want you to suffer from shock!)

I really liked the post. One of the better posts I have seen. Good Job.

 

[SkinsandTerps]

Interesting. I won't discount the premise of your thoughts, but only ask if you believe that other teams have had similar ideas, but had more pressing needs ?



I think it will be an adjustment period for some players, but the teams will have already addressed it and it will result in a minimal difference in game play or drafting.

 

[Hostile]

This is one of the best posts I have seen in a long time. How did I miss it?

Outstanding thoughts.

 

[Hypnotoad]

Just thought of some other change that this draft could have a positive effect on...

This is pure speculation, but since the talk right now is that the league will move to 17 or 18 regular season games, chances are they will increase the limit on the 45/53 man roster. So we can have 3 kickers now! YES.

 

[lspain1]

Well done tskyler! I'll take a contrary view for the sake of discussion.

Given your ideas, why did the Cowboys hire a kickoff specialist to drive the ball deep? If kickoffs are likely going to become less fruitful, the Cowboys would absolutely NOT want to tie up an existing roster spot with a specialist whose services are no longer needed. I think that drafting Buehler in the 5th round indicates the kicker WILL make the team unless he screws up completely.

The Cowboys were a poor kick coverage team last season. The fact that the wedge is gone will not automatically make them a better coverage team IMO. In your scenario, the Cowboys drafting a kicker was a particularly bad idea and I think the jury is still out on this. We'll see.

 

[Angus]

Very good post, tskyler. Making people think is a hard task, but you have accomplished it. Congratulations!

 

[jazzcat22]

Very interesting post and comments, as it does provokes some thought.
With the wedge gone, I am wondering how long before a ST coach comes up with some form or a version of the wedge that is similar, but does not break the rule. And how it develops from there.

It's like a law, [or a firewall for the computer minded posters]...put one in place, someone immediately begins to figure out how to get around it.

Will be interesting as I said.

 

[Hostile]

Well done tskyler! I'll take a contrary view for the sake of discussion.

Given your ideas, why did the Cowboys hire a kickoff specialist to drive the ball deep? If kickoffs are likely going to become less fruitful, the Cowboys would absolutely NOT want to tie up an existing roster spot with a specialist whose services are no longer needed. I think that drafting Buehler in the 5th round indicates the kicker WILL make the team unless he screws up completely.

The Cowboys were a poor kick coverage team last season. The fact that the wedge is gone will not automatically make them a better coverage team IMO. In your scenario, the Cowboys drafting a kicker was a particularly bad idea and I think the jury is still out on this. We'll see.

I apologize in advance, but I don't follow your line of thinking at all on this. Kickoff teams want to pin the receiving team as deep as possible. The receiving team wants to get the best field position possible and now can't use a "wedge" blocking scheme. These are givens.

The OP's original idea is that we focused on smaller, faster guys and pinning the other team deep.

From his post...

Theory #2: There will still be less scoring but the kicking game is still valuable. Maybe touchbacks will be considered horrible since the average return goes so far down. In this case, Bruce Reed's insistance on angled kicks becomes a critical skill if you want to push offenses back behind the 20 on every kick. These kicks are more nuanced and the kickoff specialist becomes more valuable. Returner, blocker, and pursuit skills are still to be judged after we have data from game just like theory #1.

So it appears to me he has covered this.

 

[Hostile]

Just thought of some other change that this draft could have a positive effect on...

This is pure speculation, but since the talk right now is that the league will move to 17 or 18 regular season games, chances are they will increase the limit on the 45/53 man roster. So we can have 3 kickers now! YES.

There are a couple of things about this idea that I think are likely. First of all, I do believe the Players Union will negotiate active rosters from 45 to 50 or more so that more players receive game pay.

Second the owners will never get the increase to 17 or 18 games without increasing the game pay proportionally for all players. Right now the owners think that the players already receive game pay for the pre-season games, but it is not the same as regular season pay and the Players Union is never going to go for that. Their stance will be that you cannot increase workload 6% to 12% without a similar increase in game pay.

 

[jazzcat22]

There are a couple of things about this idea that I think are likely. First of all, I do believe the Players Union will negotiate active rosters from 45 to 50 or more so that more players receive game pay.

Second the owners will never get the increase to 17 or 18 games without increasing the game pay proportionally for all players. Right now the owners think that the players already receive game pay for the pre-season games, but it is not the same as regular season pay and the Players Union is never going to go for that. Their stance will be that you cannot increase workload 6% to 12% without a similar increase in game pay.

Very true. As also they will push that roster increase. More games, mean more injuries. So they need more players. Maybe not so much as to game day limits, as that most likely would stay at 45. But an increase in the roster, and maybe have more inactives.

I doubt they would bring back a limited form of IR to keep players [as when they use to stash players for the future, putting them on IR for a hangnail]. Maybe more practice squad players, but you can protect so many of them from leaving to other teams.

I think it will be a while to work all that out. Also depends on any TV contract negotiations, to get more money for the owners, to pay the extra pay.

 

[ologan]

Well done tskyler! I'll take a contrary view for the sake of discussion.

Given your ideas, why did the Cowboys hire a kickoff specialist to drive the ball deep? If kickoffs are likely going to become less fruitful, the Cowboys would absolutely NOT want to tie up an existing roster spot with a specialist whose services are no longer needed. I think that drafting Buehler in the 5th round indicates the kicker WILL make the team unless he screws up completely.

The Cowboys were a poor kick coverage team last season. The fact that the wedge is gone will not automatically make them a better coverage team IMO. In your scenario, the Cowboys drafting a kicker was a particularly bad idea and I think the jury is still out on this. We'll see.

Great post by the OP,and good counter points by you. I would agree on Buehler if all he brought to the table was his kicking ability. However this kid lives on contact,the harder the better. He's another player the return team must account for,not watch him avoid contact like most kickers do. And I can understand why most kickers like to stay 'on the fringe' of the action. If they get dinged up,there goes the field goal possibility. The rule change may have been the tipping point to drafting him.

 

[Hostile]

Very true. As also they will push that roster increase. More games, mean more injuries. So they need more players. Maybe not so much as to game day limits, as that most likely would stay at 45. But an increase in the roster, and maybe have more inactives.

I doubt they would bring back a limited form of IR to keep players [as when they use to stash players for the future, putting them on IR for a hangnail]. Maybe more practice squad players, but you can protect so many of them from leaving to other teams.

I think it will be a while to work all that out. Also depends on any TV contract negotiations, to get more money for the owners, to pay the extra pay.

I actually think they will push for game day increases as well. It is the most logical stance for the players union to take to protect their interests.

 

[SkinsandTerps]

The more money you pay the players, the closer the teams come to outpricing their market.

I love the game day experience and my LL seats. But I have better seats in my house, with cheaper beer, food, etc., and a closer bathroom, without a line.

I would love 18 games, but is the cost too high for the average family? I would lose probably half of the people that sit around me on gameday.

 

[Hostile]

The more money you pay the players, the closer the teams come to outpricing their market.

I love the game day experience and my LL seats. But I have better seats in my house, with cheaper beer, food, etc., and a closer bathroom, without a line.

I would love 18 games, but is the cost too high for the average family? I would lose probably half of the people that sit around me on gameday.

I like the 16 game schedule. I want to reduce pre-season but not add to the season.