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Move the draft dates up


bomont

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On 28/03/2019 at 11:37 AM, tom cody said:

In hockey and basketball the draft is before free agency, should be the same for football. For me the draft should be in mid March with free agency beginning in early April. 

It's a completely different situation with the NHL draft though.  They're drafting 17/18 year old kids, most of whom won't see an NHL roster for at least a couple years if not more.  Every year, there are typically only a few guys who will actually jump straight to the league and impact rosters for that season at all.

With the NFL...you're looking at guys who are older and who are going to be faced with immediately trying to make a roster (or at least a Practice Squad).  You're looking at huge swaths of Day 1 and 2 who teams are going to be looking at to step directly in as starters, or at least significant rotational players or guys who are going to be pushing for a starting gig within a year or so. 

Meaning...teams are plugging immediate roster holes far more so in the NFL draft.  Which means the NFLPA want to get top Veterans signed up at good $$$ contracts before they have to contend with teams trying to undercut them with set wage scale rookie draftees.  Whereas the NHLPA don't have to care because so few of the draftees are going to have any effect whatsoever on team rosters for the upcoming season.

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I think they could move it up a week or two at the most. In 2014 when it was in the middle of May, that was ridiculous. I know networks love talking draft and websites love doing mocks. It brings in a ton of traffic. So they love this time of the year.

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I don’t see it going over well with the Players’ Union, like mentioned above it would absolutely take money out of veterans’ pockets. 

I personally don’t see any reason to move the draft up, I don’t think it will help the draft prospects or the league. At the current time window it’s what 2 weeks before finals? I couldn’t imagine being a UDFA or 5th round pick trying to focus on both school and making a roster for the bulk of a semester! We know most of these players aren’t going to see 8 figure contracts. Now I know prospects are still training all semester but there is a big difference between training for football shape and training for a specific team!

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LOL@ academic concerns being an issue.

Even early Apr vs late Apr would make a big diff.  Cmon who wouldn't love the first round to have happened tonight vs 3 weeks from now? Then there's plenty of time to analyze it all.

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55 minutes ago, bomont said:

LOL@ academic concerns being an issue.

 

Considering that the NCAA is essentially running a free farm system for the NFL and grants considerable access to NFL teams, it is probably wise for the NFL to defer to the NCAA and its member institutions when it comes to draft stuff.  No reason to potentially compromise your free farm system.

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On 4/3/2019 at 5:15 AM, raidersedge said:

I think they could move it up a week or two at the most. In 2014 when it was in the middle of May, that was ridiculous. I know networks love talking draft and websites love doing mocks. It brings in a ton of traffic. So they love this time of the year.

1st weekend in April is NCAA Final Four

2nd weekend is Masters

3rd weekend this year is Easter

4th weekend will generally always be free of other major sporting events and holidays.  Combine will be early March, pro-days and teams getting personal workouts with the players they want to bring into their facility from then until the draft.  That 6-7 weeks is a good time and give the NFL draft really not much else to compete against.  

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