Goodell: NFL is thinking about making the draft a 4-day event

[Rob0729]

I guess we'll find out in a few days what the ratings are for round 1.

I think the ratings will be about the same either way. I don't think it is the point though.

I hate it because moving the draft from late April to late May gives rookies less time to get acclimated to the playbook and system. It is pushing passing camp, minicamp, and rookie camp into June which if the coaching staff spots something they want a rookie to work on before training camp starts, they lose a month of time working on it.

It also bunches the OTAs close together rather spreading them out more. I think it could hinder development of players.

My dislike of this has little to do whether I watch the draft. I am watching tonight even though I hate that it was pushed back two weeks. I think it is going to hurt the product on the field this fall. That is why I hate it.

 

[Sicilian]

I think the ratings will be about the same either way. I don't think it is the point though.

I hate it because moving the draft from late April to late May gives rookies less time to get acclimated to the playbook and system. It is pushing passing camp, minicamp, and rookie camp into June which if the coaching staff spots something they want a rookie to work on before training camp starts, they lose a month of time working on it.

It also bunches the OTAs close together rather spreading them out more. I think it could hinder development of players.

My dislike of this has little to do whether I watch the draft. I am watching tonight even though I hate that it was pushed back two weeks. I think it is going to hurt the product on the field this fall. That is why I hate it.

I personally think that the effect on the rookies is going to be trivial, if there is an effect at all. Of course, this could be an endless debate, because there's absolutely no way to quantify the effect.

 

[Armchair Quarterback]

I truly can't stand why it even matters to you? It's an extra day. I personally get so bored after watching the later stages as it goes on because it does drag...maybe if it is extended a little bit further I'll be more inclined to watch more of it towards the end.

The NFL is a business...and he's bringing in record revenues year-in-year-out. Fair play to him. He's doing a fantastic job.

He's not hired to keep all of you happy and, even when he does upset fans, they still pay to watch and subscribe to cable television....so he's hardly going to be bothered when he's trying to expand and make even more money.

In the grand scheme of things I don't care, there are more important things in life for me to worry about. However, it's gone from an enjoyable event I would try to clear a Saturday in April to watch to a long, drawn out, excessively overhyped bunch of noise that I have little to no interest in watching.

He's not doing a fantastic job, he's captioning a ship that drives itself. Fantasy football is what is driving this level of popularity. You enjoy the changes he's made to the game, great - most real fans don't.

In a sense he is hired to keep fans happy, alienating your fan base is generally not good for business. At some point the popularity tilts. 30 years ago, baseball was sitting atop the sports hierarchy.

The NFL has the right to do whatever they want all in the name of squeezing every last cent out of their already massively profitable product and I have the right to not buy their products.

It's gone from a must see for close to 20 years to an I don't care if I watch it at all for me. I guess that's good for business. I'm not going to lose sleep over it one way or another, just expressing an opinion.

 

[Armchair Quarterback]

Not just fans dislike a May draft. Marvin Lewis had this to say.

http://www.nationalfootballpost.com/Marvin-Lewis-wants-the-draft-to-go-back-to-April.html


"I’d prefer to have the draft done where it was, in April, because now it’s a little bit in the way of football," Lewis said during a press conference this week. "This is time where we would be spending more time with the players, and now we are going back and forth between both because of that. You want to be finishing up the draft preparation prior to the draft, you don’t want to have it finished up two weeks earlier because of guys who have been injured are still doing workouts, evaluations and us bringing guys in."

"As far as teaching goes, it’s a great progression to have an opportunity for them to come and spend time at a rookie camp, have an opportunity to go home for a bit and absorb what they got exposed to, and then come back with the other players and to have the second time around," Lewis said. "To me, that’s a much better teaching progression, so then they get it again a third time when we go to training camp so they can get things locked down.

"We are kind of skipping a step of that now (the rookie camp) because there is no reason to bring those guys in next week, and then overwork them the next weekend because they are going to be the first guys that have all the soft tissue injuries. So we are going to skip that step in the process here."

 

[Rob0729]

I personally think that the effect on the rookies is going to be trivial, if there is an effect at all. Of course, this could be an endless debate, because there's absolutely no way to quantify the effect.

It will affect some and not others. It will most likely be a case by case thing. I know most of the head coaches would agree with my position about moving the draft even if their reasoning may be a bit different.

 

[Real World]

Goodell: NFL is thinking about making the draft a 4-day event - CBSSports.com

I truly can't stand Goodell. The draft should be happening this weekend, instead it's spread over 3 days in May (the month they would like to move it to permanently so they can monopolize another month). Now he wants it spread over 4 days in yet another transparent money grab. My interest in this years draft is the lowest it's been in over 20 years thanks to the new format. How much more can he water down everything about the game?

Don't even get me started on his idiotic idea to expand the playoffs.

I actually think they should consider expanding the playoffs. I can see the arguments to keep it as is, and am ok with doing so. However, I think a 7 team playoff format, with a single bye going to the top record in each conference, wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing.

As for the draft, I 100% agree with you. 3 days is already stretching it. A 4th day is absurd. There are 7 rounds, so maybe they should simply move to drafting a round each day of the week. Heck they could rename the rounds according to the days of the week. I'll take you a Sunday, and two Thursdays, for you Monday and Tuesday.... In all seriousness, 4 days is stupid.

 

[vyrago]

If you mean to attract more fans, probably. As much as people will gripe, real NFL fans aren't going to abandon the NFL because it has a 4 day draft in May instead of a 3 day draft in April.
But if you increase attention to your league, you draw in more new fans. Sure, that makes total sense.
I'm just not sure why this is even something to talk about.

 

[vyrago]

What an idiot Wretchedell is.
Hey Roger! Goose? egg? golden? ever heard of them? What with the 7 billion different ways to get the results of this farce, do you really think but anyone but the already indoctrinated will be glued to their t.v.s during this??