What's new
Fantasy Football - Footballguys Forums

Welcome to Our Forums. Once you've registered and logged in, you're primed to talk football, among other topics, with the sharpest and most experienced fantasy players on the internet.

Should The NFL Abolish The Player Draft? (1 Viewer)

Should The NFL Abolish The Player Draft?

  • Definitely Abolish The Draft

    Votes: 2 1.7%
  • Probably Abolish The Draft

    Votes: 1 0.8%
  • On The Fence

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Probably Keep The Draft

    Votes: 9 7.5%
  • Definitely Keep The Draft

    Votes: 108 90.0%

  • Total voters
    120
Getting rid of the draft would increase the negotiating power of players, and there's really no downside to that. Parity is a myth. Four teams have never been to a Super Bowl in 50 years. Nine teams have never won one. ~70% of playoff teams had winning records the previous season. In the past 20 years (in fact, in the past 24), only 7 teams have represented the AFC in the Super Bowl; only 12 in the NFC. 
You are hung up on parity of outcome.  There is parity of opportunity for NFL teams via the draft and free agency.  CLE sucked for 50 years because they were bad a running an NFL team  :shrug:  

Also, if every player was a FA parity would decrease as the better players move toward the better teams/locations/etc.  See the NBA for an example of this.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
This isn't a question of "choosing where they live." It's a question of choosing which company they want to work for, which is an entirely different thing. The ownership and management of NFL franchises are completely separate, and it's entirely reasonable for a human being to want to choose who they work for.

Google can tell you that if you want to work for Google, the job is in Sunnyvale (or NYC). But they can't tell you that you can't work for Apple.

Getting rid of the draft would increase the negotiating power of players, and there's really no downside to that. Parity is a myth. Four teams have never been to a Super Bowl in 50 years. Nine teams have never won one. ~70% of playoff teams had winning records the previous season. In the past 20 years (in fact, in the past 24), only 7 teams have represented the AFC in the Super Bowl; only 12 in the NFC. 
The argument of "you can't choose your employer" because of the draft seems like a bad one to me.  The league is your employer and they have various offices scattered around the country.  If you don't want to be part of that employer because of the way they do things then choose a different employer.  You can go to a different country (employer) to play or actually find a real job.   I realize each team pays the player separately and they make personnel decisions separately however there is no team without the league.  The league is the "employer" because without it there is no company (team) to play for. 

 
Last edited by a moderator:
The argument of "you can't choose your employer" because of the draft seems like a bad one to me.  The league is your employer and they have various offices scattered around the country.  If you don't want to be part of that employer because of the way they do things then choose a different employer.  You can go to a different country (employer) to play or actually find a real job.   I realize each team pays the player separately and they make personnel decisions separately however there is no team without the league.  The league is the "employer" because without it there is no company (team) to play for. 
The league is not the employer, any more than the MPAA is the employer of George Clooney. 

 
The league is not the employer, any more than the MPAA is the employer of George Clooney. 
Without the league there are no teams.  The league is not the "employer" in the strict sense but they are the reason those companies (teams) exist.   For most purposes they (NFL, NBA, etc) are the company that the players work for. 

 
The "job" is working for the NFL tho...The league is run jointly by the owners of the franchises, so you being a 49'er or a dolphin is essentially the difference in working at this branch or another branch for the same bank...

For this reason, i do not like the argument that people should get to essentially pick where they want to play initially
Right, pretty much this.  The mistake is thinking of the NFL as all these different independent franchises, and you pick where to go.  In reality is like's applying at, say Google. And they have an entry level program that says you can be assigned to any of their divisions around the US.  You don't HAVE to go to google.  But if you do, and they hire you, you can be assigned anywhere.

 
you lost all credibility with the post when you quoted ESPN. they're absolutely horrible.

trying to uderstand the premise - Am I supposed to feel sad for a guy making MILLIONS as a 21 yr old , who has to go to GB and live in the cold but gets paid like $600k/wk? I mean, what planet are we living on here? If I got offered that money to go play backgammon ( I'm good at it lol) in ,say, Iowa, for $7.5m per year, I'm pretty sure my hand wouldn't be able to sign the contract fast enough.

this is the 'everyone gets a trophy' generation, the selfie generation, the 32 yr old still lives at home with mom. 

I can't even understand the Manning duff of SD, or the Elway duff before landing in Denver. just sign.get paid. get on with it.

the ONLY reason I could understand it is that taxes in some states are way high.nj/cal/mich/ill for instance. 

no one forced S. Barkley to play in the NFL.he could work at a lawyers office in happy valley, but instead he 'chose' to go pro. 

its just  another case of rampant liberal ideaology gone too far. 

my parents moved from nj to cali to wisconsin, back to nj in the 70s/80s, all because my dad kept getting promotions and tranfers and big bucks to move.so we did.like millions of other familes do every year.

kids these days are spoiled rotten from home life, through schooling, and onward. they expect to be given everything, on their terms.

the idea is simple: there's a rich guy owns a franchise wants to pay you BIG bucks to do your thing in X city in X state.

so you go. play 12 yrs.get a pension.blow out a knee or two. go to the HOf. make about 75-90 mil in your brief 12 yr career and retire at 32.

THEN you move to Naples FL and live the high life.

it's how it has been done for centuries.
like none of this rant has much bearing in reality.  I mean I think the draft is fine and needed and should stay, but wtf dude.  Go relax or something.

 
Right, pretty much this.  The mistake is thinking of the NFL as all these different independent franchises, and you pick where to go.  In reality is like's applying at, say Google. And they have an entry level program that says you can be assigned to any of their divisions around the US.  You don't HAVE to go to google.  But if you do, and they hire you, you can be assigned anywhere.
Counter argument would be the NFL is a monopoly.

 
Some questions I have-

1. I didn’t declare for the draft, but if I get invincible and try out for the eagles they can sign me. So why can’t a college player or someone else simply not declare themselves eligible for the draft and then sign as a FA? If Kyler Murray changed his mind about playing baseball today rather than in February or whenever, would he be required to sit out until the next draft? If Lebrun decides he wanted to try out for the rams could he do that? 

2. You can’t enter the nfl/nba until youve been out of high school for a certain time. Could you simply drop out at 16 and play in Europe or something? 

 
Some questions I have-

1. I didn’t declare for the draft, but if I get invincible and try out for the eagles they can sign me. So why can’t a college player or someone else simply not declare themselves eligible for the draft and then sign as a FA? If Kyler Murray changed his mind about playing baseball today rather than in February or whenever, would he be required to sit out until the next draft? If Lebrun decides he wanted to try out for the rams could he do that? 

2. You can’t enter the nfl/nba until youve been out of high school for a certain time. Could you simply drop out at 16 and play in Europe or something? 
#1 Was very recently discussed, the only way to initially enter the NFL is via draft eligibility.  You either declare as an underclassman or you're automatically eligible when your college eligibility expires.

#2 I am 98% certain in the NBA it's 1 year after your HS graduation class.  So that 16 year old that was a member of the Class of 2021 can't enter the NBA until the 2021 draft.  I am 100% sure that's how it works for the NFL at 3 years.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
I think there's a pretty good argument that they do, but this has been debated for years by people a lot smarter than us.


The Sherman Act has been around since 1890.  The NFL has been around since 1920.  In all that time, apparently no one has been able to make a good argument and stick the NFL with violating the Sherman Act.  And there have been numerous leagues that have attempted to start up, including one very notable league that has stuck and continues to play professional football successfully north of the border.

But if you can pull it off and make that good argument so that it survives the judicial system and renders a verdict against the NFL, I’d figure you’d be enriching yourself by outrageous amounts doing so rather than posting here.

 
Bronco Billy said:
The Sherman Act has been around since 1890.  The NFL has been around since 1920.  In all that time, apparently no one has been able to make a good argument and stick the NFL with violating the Sherman Act.  And there have been numerous leagues that have attempted to start up, including one very notable league that has stuck and continues to play professional football successfully north of the border.

But if you can pull it off and make that good argument so that it survives the judicial system and renders a verdict against the NFL, I’d figure you’d be enriching yourself by outrageous amounts doing so rather than posting here.
NFL is given an antitrust exemption by the government. You can google and read all about it.

 
Hankmoody said:
#1 Was very recently discussed, the only way to initially enter the NFL is via draft eligibility.  You either declare as an underclassman or you're automatically eligible when your college eligibility expires.

#2 I am 98% certain in the NBA it's 1 year after your HS graduation class.  So that 16 year old that was a member of the Class of 2021 can't enter the NBA until the 2021 draft.  I am 100% sure that's how it works for the NFL at 3 years.
So say kyler Murray just today decided to play football, since the draft has already taken place if nobody used a pick on him he’s free to sign? Sorry if I missed the discussion upthread

 
Of course the fantasy community is against the removal of the draft. It’s an event. It’s also stupid and a waste of people’s talents. The NFL should not only not be able to collude within itself to have the draft, it should be unable to collude with the NCAA to prevent players to be signed and developed by NFL teams before the age of 21. The whole thing is a scam by penny pinching billionaires to not have to develop their own talent. Look at European soccer. Outside of MLB our professional leagues are an absolute joke in how they develop players. They should be having academies, providing schooling and money for families and be identifying kids at a young age to sign, develop and prosper. Guys shouldn’t ever, ever be telling stories of decade old pads and have shredded jerseys with drug sales happening on the sidelines. That’s America though. 

 
Last edited by a moderator:
 Outside of MLB our professional leagues are an absolute joke in how they develop players. They should be having academies, providing schooling and money for families and be identifying kids at a young age to sign, develop and prosper. Guys shouldn’t ever, ever be telling stories of decade old pads and have shredded jerseys with drug sales happening on the sidelines. That’s America though. 


Yeah.  Guys ought to be telling stories of how they skipped college completely and signed a small contract (relatively) with a major league team, spent years in the minors living on a shoestring, and eventually ended up out of the sport closer to 30 than 20 with absolutely no education or training to fall back on to make it for the next 5 to 6 decades of their life.

I guess that’s your vision of the American dream.  At least football players are given the opportunity to get a higher education and a higher quality life beyond football if they choose to take advantage of it.  The overwhelming percentage of college football players don’t earn their living after college playing football.

 
Yeah.  Guys ought to be telling stories of how they skipped college completely and signed a small contract (relatively) with a major league team, spent years in the minors living on a shoestring, and eventually ended up out of the sport closer to 30 than 20 with absolutely no education or training to fall back on to make it for the next 5 to 6 decades of their life.

I guess that’s your vision of the American dream.  At least football players are given the opportunity to get a higher education and a higher quality life beyond football if they choose to take advantage of it.  The overwhelming percentage of college football players don’t earn their living after college playing football.
They get an education in the academy. They get paid while they’re in the academy. They make significantly more than you or I make over the course of 15 to 20 years. If they waste it that’s they’re fault. And if it pleases your bleeding heart throw in that any developmental teenager automatically gets college paid for. Think they can’t afford it or the union can’t negotiate it? Such a simpleton argument. Imagine them being signed at 15 or 16 and having all injury risk completely removed because now they’re covered under the same standards as the NFLPA enjoys right now. Now they play Neanderthal ball in high school, go and waste tax payer dollars in college and take on 100% risk with 100% downside while Nick Saban is polishing off his 4th home and his 10th car dealership. Pathetic.

 
But Bronco Billy gets to have his little dynasty draft and pretend he’s Mel Kiper so the draft and 3 year rule is A O.K.

 
You clearly did not read closely enough.  You really ought to try it again more carefully.
On May 24, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in American Needle, Inc. v. National Football League, holding unanimously that the 32 teams of the National Football League (NFL) do not enjoy "single entity" status under the Sherman Antitrust Act in the context of licensing their intellectual property (IP).

Background of the Case

Although NFL teams each own their own team names, logos, and other IP, NFL Properties (a company wholly-owned by the teams) acts as their representative in licensing their collective IP to third parties. In 2000, NFL Properties decided to limit the number of its licensees permitted to manufacture caps, hats and other headwear and granted an exclusive license to Reebok International Ltd. (Reebok). Accordingly, NFL Properties allowed its license with American Needle, a competitor of Reebok and long-time non-exclusive headwear licensee, to expire in favor of the exclusive arrangement with Reebok.

American Needle filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois against the NFL, its teams, NFL Properties (collectively, the NFL Defendants), and Reebok, alleging that Reebok's exclusive license violated antitrust law as an illegal conspiracy in restraint of trade under the Sherman Act. However, the District Court granted the NFL Defendants' motion for summary judgment, agreeing with their argument that in collectively licensing IP, the NFL Defendants function as a "single entity" and do not constitute the plurality of separate economic entities required for a Sherman Act conspiracy. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit affirmed.

The U.S. Supreme Court granted American Needle's petition for certiorari and heard oral argument on January 13, 2010 on the issue whether for purposes of the Sherman Act the NFL Defendants are capable of engaging in a "contract, combination . . . , or conspiracy", or whether the NFL Defendants' activities must be viewed as that of a single entity.

Holding

In a unanimous opinion authored by retiring Justice Stevens, the Court reversed the Seventh Circuit's decision and remanded the case for the lower courts to consider whether the potential pro-competitive effects of the NFL's IP licensing arrangement outweigh any potential anti-competitive harm (i.e., a "Rule of Reason" analysis).

The Court explained that the "single entity" determination does not depend on whether the alleged contracting, combining or conspiring parties are part of a legally single entity or "seem like" one entity or multiple entities in "in any metaphysical sense." Rather, the focus should be on whether or not the parties' agreement binds separate economic actors pursuing separate economic interests in a manner that deprives the marketplace of independent centers of decisionmaking. If so, the parties are engaging in concerted action under the Sherman Act that is illegal unless a court decides that the activity is permissible under the Rule of Reason.

In American Needle, the Court found the NFL teams are "substantial, independently owned, and independently managed business[es] [that] … compete with one another, not only on the playing field, but to attract fans, for gate receipts and for contracts with managerial and playing personnel." The Court observed that each team's IP competes with the other teams' IP in the market, even though all of the IP is licensed through a single vendor in a manner that deprives the market of "independent centers of decisionmaking." As such, the teams' activity constitutes "concerted action" that is subject to the Sherman Act.

The Court was not persuaded by the lower courts' reasoning in favor of single entity status. As Justice Stevens noted, although the teams necessarily depend on each other to engage in football games, they do not necessarily require concerted activity to license IP or engage in other aspects of managing the business of professional football. However, the Court also stressed that "football teams that need to cooperate are not trapped by antitrust law." The Court recognized that the successful operation of the NFL requires the teams to cooperate in certain respects, such as in the production and scheduling of games. The Court seemed to anticipate that in many instances the NFL teams' collective action would survive a Rule of Reason analysis, noting that it may be possible to apply the analysis "in the twinkling of an eye."

Potential Impact

The Supreme Court's decision in American Needle was widely anticipated primarily because of the possibility of the Court establishing a categorical rule that the NFL and its teams — and, by extension, similarly situated professional sports leagues — are a single entity under the Sherman Act. Among other things, such a holding could have significantly impacted the NFL's upcoming collective bargaining negotiations with the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) by limiting the players' ability to decertify the union and file an antitrust action against the NFL.

Instead, in many respects the Court's decision is a return to the status quo. Prior to American Needle, decisions in the First, Second and Ninth Circuits suggested that in no circumstances could a professional sports league comprised of separately owned teams constitute a single entity for purposes of a Sherman Act analysis. In those Circuits, claims that a professional sports league or its teams have engaged in anti-competitive behavior have been subject to a Rule of Reason analysis. Because the NFL necessarily requires agreement and coordination among its teams on certain matters to function as a professional sports league, various activities of the NFL have survived Rule of Reason analysis in cases preceding American Needle. Although a "single entity" ruling favorable to the NFL might have provided an absolute defense in certain future antitrust cases, the Court's decision likely means that the NFL and other professional sports leagues will continue to defend antitrust claims on a case-by-case, "Rule of Reason" basis.

 
They get an education in the academy. They get paid while they’re in the academy. They make significantly more than you or I make over the course of 15 to 20 years. If they waste it that’s they’re fault. And if it pleases your bleeding heart throw in that any developmental teenager automatically gets college paid for. Think they can’t afford it or the union can’t negotiate it? Such a simpleton argument. Imagine them being signed at 15 or 16 and having all injury risk completely removed because now they’re covered under the same standards as the NFLPA enjoys right now. Now they play Neanderthal ball in high school, go and waste tax payer dollars in college and take on 100% risk with 100% downside while Nick Saban is polishing off his 4th home and his 10th car dealership. Pathetic.


You’re the one adoring the MLB system.  Yeah, premier sports academies for the chosen ones.  What could possibly go wrong there?  

Well, at least there’s the positive out of your posts that almost everyone here isn’t nearly as bitter as you.  It’s just a shame they don’t have your blazing insight or brilliant intellect.  I guess that at least partly has brought on such bitterness.  I hope your day gets better.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
But Bronco Billy gets to have his little dynasty draft and pretend he’s Mel Kiper so the draft and 3 year rule is A O.K.
I mean, the draft is a big part of the NFLs popularity. They have only a 5 month season, very short compared to other sports leagues. Watching the draft gives us wanna be analysts something to talk about at the water cooler during the off season. Anticipating how these players pan out is part of the suspense.

Is it fair to the players? Frankly, I dont care. It's not like we are talking about coal miners barely surviving on 70 hours a week, getting worse treatment than the mules. NFL players have it damn good. If life was fair, I would be as good at coaching football as Mike Tomlin. Then I wouldnt be wasting my time on these here boards trying to get better at being a pretend GM.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
What would you think if the NFL abolished the Draft?
In the big picture, I don't think it would matter much. Teams would still be bound by a salary cap and would still have to assess players to determine which ones they want to spend on. Some teams are better at managing the cap, player assessment, and player contracts in this era that includes the draft, and those teams would presumably still be better at it than the others even if the draft did not exist.

The cap and free agency would prevent dynasties like the 1960s Packers, 1970s Steelers, and 1980s 49ers from being created and sustained. In theory, there could be wilder swings for some teams in the offseason. For example, the Browns have had a lot of cap space entering the past two offseasons and could have theoretically signed several top 10 players... if those players would go to the Browns.

It might help to prevent a team like the Patriots from dominating to the same extent they have, since the teams close to them would not be limited to picking late in the first round to try to close the gap. Of course, the Pats also wouldn't be limited to that.

I don't think this situation would be good for veteran players. It seemingly could motivate teams to cut veterans to create cap space to go after more top rookies, especially if some form of rookie cap remained in effect. On the other hand, it also might not be good for the majority of rookies. I could easily see a much different split in rookie salaries, like the top 100 rookies getting bigger contracts and the rest getting UDFA level contracts. So, ironically, the NFLPA might be against it.

 
So say kyler Murray just today decided to play football, since the draft has already taken place if nobody used a pick on him he’s free to sign? Sorry if I missed the discussion upthread
Yep.  It was a different thread, but no worries either way.

 
They get their choice through free agency.  Already been said but it’s hard to see the smaller markets thriving without it.   In free agency they get to choose for whatever they prioritize, money, climate or winning. 

If the NFPA doesn’t see it as a problem I don’t either. They have a union to ensure they’re being treated fairly. 

 
What competitive balance? The Cleveland Browns haven't won a championship in over 50 years. 

If we cared about competitive balance, we would do what European leagues do, which is relegate teams which suck to crappier leagues, and let better teams play at the top level. It is extremely bizarre that the one place the U.S. embraces socialism is in professional sports.
There's over 30 teams. Basic tenants of probability dictate several teams would be over 40 or 50 years since their last championship

 
He can play a few years in NOLA and then go wherever he wants.   NBA is a strange league, all these dudes want to be with each other.   

 
So say kyler Murray just today decided to play football, since the draft has already taken place if nobody used a pick on him he’s free to sign? Sorry if I missed the discussion upthread
He'd be in the supplemental draft. Likely the Cardinals would have used their 2020 1st on him. 

 

Users who are viewing this thread

Top