maverick4

ESPN - Conversations: Commish: '09 draftees won't face wage-scale overhaul

The Patriots have a lot of, and can expect maybe even some more high draft picks this year, in a year where lots of 1st round non-senior talent may declare for the draft. The fear among college athletes is that Goodell wants to institute a scale/cap, like the NBA does, on what rookies make in their first contracts. The argument is that unproven rookies shouldn't get these huge contracts compared to what vets make.

In the article above Goodell basically admitted the draft scale/cap is going to happen, and then gives a weak assurance that it will be in 2011 and not earlier. The fact that he is going public with this is going to raise awareness about it and cause some really good non-senior 1st round talent to declare for the draft this year.

This is really similar to when a bunch of really good HS basketball players declared for the NBA draft several years ago, when they knew the NBA would create that age rule of being at least 20 before you could enter the league.

Seneschal2

Suppose to be a record breaking year for declarations. Maybe as many as 75-80 underclassmen. Sad for the colleges -- it really is. Ironically, it's an average Senior crop this draft.

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maverick4

It may seriously hurt the quality of the college football games, similar to how March Madness was terrible in the early 2000 years when all the best basketball players didn't even go to college. In the next three years the bowl games may look ugly.

jsull87

i think this info is even more reason to try and get a first pick and hopefully more with a cassel tag due to the increased talent pool in this draft in comparison to others if there are many early declarations. maybe even trading picks like future 3rd or future 4th for picks this year

Ochmed Jones

This is so very true. More and more true freshman will be thrown into the fire and the quality of play will suffer. Miami is a perfect example. Look at how young their team was this season. Yes they made it to a bowl game, but there execution was average at best. It was not the Miami machine of old where a player sat for two years and excelled for two years and the quality of play never suffered when the new guys stepped in to replace departed starters.

I have heard that the agents are using a proposed rookie cap to scare a lot of kids and their parents.

Box_O_Rocks

If this were to play out the way mav projects, I'd say high picks in the 2009 draft would be 'less' critical than equivalent picks in 2010 when the talent pool might be thinner. NE would be better served with their extra 2nd and a prospective 3rd round comp in 2009, where they may be able to choose amongst talented kids coming out early, and try to trade themselves into a Top 15 pick in 2010 when the "talent" is harder to find. Hopefully college coaches succeed in showing their kids the longer term advantages of staying in school and developing their skills.

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maverick4

But using that logic in trying to pace your draft haul every year, doesn't explain why the Pats traded out of last year's draft (and others before it). Isn't it smarter to spend more picks in talent-rich drafts than in talent-poor drafts? The 'trade your 2nd rounder for next year's 1st' is a great strategy in general but isn't it even better when you are trading out of a weak draft into a strong one?

Box_O_Rocks

The Pats used a 1st Rd pick in a talent 'poor' draft (2007) and traded another 1st into a talent rich draft (2008). I'm not advocating trading away the 1st Rd pick in 2009, or even trading away one of the two seconds, though someone offering a 2010 1st for a 2009 2nd would indeed tempt me. I am thinking about the various prognosticators anticipating a Franchise/Trade deal with Mattyice. If there was such a deal, I think I'd rather take a first in 2010 and a lower round pick in 2009, just to have the flexibility in a theoretically weak class - they could always trade it ahead again, but Ochmed reports Terence Cody is staying for his Senior year, it would be nice to have the ammo to make a play for him.

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JSn

The first round is still only 32 picks long. An above average amount of first rounders projected would be fantastic for a team with multiple day two picks. Top talent at bargain prices.

Imagine if a rookie min comes in, though. It will make it easier to have a big year in the draft AND free agency.

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VJCPatriot

What this does for the Pats is it pushes some 1st round talent into the 2nd round pick area. This is an ideal situation for them as they have at least 3 picks in the round 1-2 area thanks to having San Diego's pick as well. If they get a 1st or high 2nd for Cassel, that puts them in the position to possibly get 4 blue/red chip prospects on the 1st day!! 2009 is a crucial draft for the Pats and they might reap a real bonanza if they draft well.

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