How much different todays NFL process is to the past .... (1 Viewer)

[belljr]

I am only posting this because I stumbled across something recently that I was honestly surprised about. We all know that NFL draft rounds used to be 13,14,15 rounds. And there are stories of good players coming from those rounds. But what surprised me was the college my daughter plans on attending has a prominent NFL player in history as an alumni. Not usually a big deal as he was drafted late but its a Division 3 school.

It just got me thinking if something like that would ever happen again. yes stories like Brady and Purdy but they went to big colleges. Or someone like a Westbrook who came from a 1AA program. Is todays process too "strict" that "lower" players will never get those opportunities. Or is it just a matter of much more competitive now?

I think its probably more to do with how much the amateur landscape has changed and grown. I'm not talking about the amount of money involved but more of the growing number of schools and programs and parent's/kids obviously playing at the top level because of the training they now do.

Not sure the real purpose of the thread, I was just surprised when I stumbled on that.

 

[Bri]

Yes.
The NBA draft is two rounds and some have said it should be one round because second round picks are such "throw ins" on deals.
The NBA, though, has a minor league.

The old NFL way had most players from round 8 to 15 making the minimum salary so their value was about the same.
There was a sincere third and fourth team and maybe fifth. Nowadays third stringers barely get reps and they have stories of the coach not even looking when they do get reps.

Reggie Roberson was an impressive college WR a few years back- did better than the names did- and then struggled with injuries for a couple years. He had a TD every day of Titans camp for like the first 11 days. Everyone said he's not as explosive or as fast as he was but he's still got it- give him a little time to get accustomed to the league. He was cut. I forget who picked him up but he was on their team two weeks and literally never caught a pass in practice. Titans added him for the offseason with a futures contract in January.

Ten? Years ago? Andrew Turzilli had around 20 catches for his career at Rutgers. He was 6-4 or so with maybe 4.3 speed. At the time, the Titans paid him a ton of money for a UDFA outbidding a slew of teams. He'd fill in with injuries and even start- barely having any catches. He'd tell a story of going in Saturday to go over plays because he didn't get many reps in practice.

NFLPA only allows thirteen padded practices in season so most people's concepts of in season practice is far wrong. Including "running the scout team."

Between the rules and GM and coaches egos almost on display, it can be very difficult for a UDFA to get reps.

You might remember during NFCC people said they never saw Josh Johnson in practice.

Also let's share here that Parcells and others have said they only scout between one and two hundred players. His thinking was - if a scout loves a guy, fine sign him as a UDFA. So they weren't even prepared to sincerely gauge late round prospects.

Dwayne Johnson has setup a lot of involvement with the NFL but still needs more. The Spring League (ten day league) invites NFL coaches to come run drills and test their prospects.

No one blinked at Ta'amu playing better than Heinicke yet not being in the league.

A corner in the last XFL allowed 0-5 passes for the year. I forget, it was insanely low. He was on SD but end of their depth chart. He got in one game and batted a few passes in a total showboating way. PFF had him with like 40 snaps zero catches allowed maybe five PDs. He's out of the league last I looked. What more could they want? Can you not work with that on D?

The groundwork is there but they need a minor league badly.
The egos are too big right now.
The last two years the Titans set a record for injuries/replacements. This past year two teams joined them with absurd numbers. I think this is the only chance to put a dent in things because a coach not having healthy players to win impacts his ego. This may get an XFL minor league deal.

Lastly kickers....maybe one or two get added to teams from thousands of colleges each year. Instead we watch bad kickers miss game winning kicks. That's a good example right there.

Anywho....so long as they don't run a practice granting backups chances to show what they can do or scout enough players- the draft will never be many rounds again. The best we can hope for is a minor league.