Next season NFL is expanding PS on all 32 teams to include one international player

[John813]

LOL, People will complain about anything.

Oh no, a spot on the Practice squad for an international player. WHERE MUH NFL GON?

 

[StarOfGlory]

Doesn't matter. Average American isn't NBA or NFL size either.

Let's not knock short guys, we can see it with our own NFL team and Deuce and Turpin. I have travelled through Asia, and I can tell you that the average Asian man is usually fairly small, but doesn't matter if you have god given athletic skill and baseball is signing them up. I know baseball doesn't need size as much, but all pro sports have bigger sizes.

I think the bigger picture though is if you build the grassroots leagues, you eventually end up with the overflow of 6'6" guys just like Europe did with the NBA. We take it for granted in our country because recruiting starts young. Some of these guys are groomed from age 8. Shoot, look at Coach Prime, he has a roster of kids who have been playing with him since Pop Warner.

Nevermind the recruiting though, How many 6'6" guys got pulled by their junior high coach to play for the team? A lot. The other countries don't have that infrastructure. Just saying.... it could work. We have a lot of advantages in our country that make it work, and it won't be easy, but I believe in this sport, and know it's just waiting for the right leadership to take it international.

Ah, I’m not knocking short guys. Just saying that in the NBA among all sports, height matters. With average taller heights and fewer pro sports to choose from, no one should be surprised that more NBA players come from Eastern Europe compared to Latin America.

 

[PA Cowboy Fan]

I don't even watch any of the games that are in Europe . They come on too early and it doesn't even feel like the NFL.

 

[rags747]

Boy, I sure hope All European countries can take part in this!

 

[VaqueroTD]

I don't even watch any of the games that are in Europe . They come on too early and it doesn't even feel like the NFL.

Living in different areas of the world, I used to love when games started at 7AM. Get it done with, go enjoy the weekend. LOL

 

[lukemartin79]

Why not just the best players available no matter where they are from? Isn't the NFL the peak of meritocracy?

I agree, this is all about $. Same as making teams fly all the way to London to play a game. If they can generate interest outside North America they can sell more merchandise. I also will not be surprised if in the near future they expand to include an international city or 2. Like most other things, its all about $.

 

[StarLord]

Return of the Cake?

 

[TexasHillbilly]

They need a minor league. Baseball, basketball, and hockey all have them and all of them have improved the quality of their games.

It would be like a huge practice squad.

 

[TexasHillbilly]

Yeah, NFL will have to invest some money to make it happen. But it can happen.

Look at basketball. We used to make fun of "euros" who would bomb in the NBA. The Dream Team wiped the floor internationally. Not much later, USA getting whipped in the Olympics and barely keeping its head above water, and you have the recent NBA HOF induction with Dirk Nowitzki, Pau Gasol, Tony Parker, et al.

Baseball. I don't know if anyone remembers that movie a long time ago that stars Tom Selleck (I think) where he has to go coach baseball in Japan and can't understand it. Now... MLB Teams are scrambling all over each other to sign the next Japanese Babe Ruth and the players are willing because they want to play with the best in the world.

NFL Europe was a good idea, they should have kept it, and I'm sure our defensive line coach agrees since he was introduced to football through it.

Just takes some big picture vision and a true passion for the sport. Biggest thing going against football though is you're right, the equipment infrastructure. It's an industrialized nation sport. But even baseball which has its own crazy infrastructure needs figured it out in some of the poorest Caribbean islands by funding these operations and now all these kids are trying their darndest to be the next Sammy Sosa.

I would rather young men around the world be groomed to be bad arse Dallas Cowboys instead of gang members, soldiers or whatever else makes a living in their country. And I believe in the sport. No sport encourages teamwork more than football. My hippy message for the day - the world would be a better place.

Tom was a player and was dating the coaches daughter. Not a bad movie.

 

[shabazz]

Sumo at DT and good to go. Perhaps someone from the Yamaguchi prefecture will fit the bill.

 

[VaqueroTD]

Sumo at DT and good to go. Perhaps someone from the Yamaguchi prefecture will fit the bill.

Been struggling to find a quality nose since Parcells and the answer was always there.

 

[shabazz]

Been struggling to find a quality nose since Parcells and the answer was always there.

Their footwork and arm/hand techniques are excellent so you’d think it could translate …..but I don’t know if it’s ever been tried

 

[Rogerthat12]

Alarcon returns

I want cake...

 

[Scottishcowboy]

Let's not be naive here. Its nothing to do with "player opportunity", it's pretty obvious it's to grow the TV market by having a player from X country then bingo, 1 million extra viewers to see "their guy" on the big stage.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

It would be like a huge practice squad.

That actually gets practice time and game experience. Exactly. PS is more about player control than development.

 

[Carson]

The Alarcon rule! Let’s go

 

[erod]

I choose Eduardo Corrochio.

 

[The Fonz]

Mexican fan here, we don't care if half the practice squad and the starting Oline is made of all mexicans, we just want our favorite team to win!

olé

 

[StarOfGlory]

Their footwork and arm/hand techniques are excellent so you’d think it could translate …..but I don’t know if it’s ever been tried

Anyone remember in 1974 when the Redsk...er, the football team residing in Washington, held a press conference to announce their interest in signing Andre the Giant? This was before his disease started to take his mobility from him. Andre was there, and so was Joe Theismann. Andre is really "only" 6'11", but did weight about 430 at the time. Theismann had this to say: “First of all when I shook his hand, I lost my arm. It’s the biggest hand I’ve ever seen, it’s the biggest head I’ve ever seen in my life. And he picked me up like anybody would pick up a baby. That was effortless. I just could not believe how big he was. I’m used to being around big people, [but] that’s big people.”

In keeping with the international theme, he was born in France, to a Bulgarian father and Polish mother.

 

[McMicah]

And with that I would like to keep a perpetual stockpile of Australian punters