Draft System?

Hi all, casual fan looking to learn a bit more about the draft system. I understand the basic premise, but what happens if a player doesn't want to sign for a particular team? For example a top player from Los Angeles presumably wouldn't be ecstatic if the Browns selected him first pick given how far away from his family he would be, and how bad the team are every year.

Also, how do they decide what to pay draftees, given that they aren't in competition with rivals to offer the best salary?

Finally, anyone the Pats are likely to be looking at for this year? I would assume defence would be the priority.

Thanks in advance!

Grimmy said:

Hi all, casual fan looking to learn a bit more about the draft system. I understand the basic premise, but what happens if a player doesn't want to sign for a particular team? For example a top player from Los Angeles presumably wouldn't be ecstatic if the Browns selected him first pick given how far away from his family he would be, and how bad the team are every year.

Also, how do they decide what to pay draftees, given that they aren't in competition with rivals to offer the best salary?

Finally, anyone the Pats are likely to be looking at for this year? I would assume defence would be the priority.

Thanks in advance!

Click to expand...

A player has essentially no choice. Theoretically, a player could not sign the contract and hold out the entire season to re-enter the draft. The team that drafted a player holds his rights for a year if he doesnt sign a contract. But realistically speaking it makes no sense for top players to skip the "relatively" cushiony first round contracts.

Since the last CBA negotiation between the league and the players union all rookies get essentially predefined amounts of money. You can see those here:

NFL Draft Resources and Contract Estimates

The only negotiating that really happens is about injury splits and guarantees.

[Hi all, casual fan looking to learn a bit more about the draft system. I understand the basic premise, but what happens if a player doesn't want to sign for a particular team? For example a top player from Los Angeles presumably wouldn't be ecstatic if the Browns selected him first pick given how far away from his family he would be, and how bad the team are every year.

Click to expand...

The player has no choice, he can voice his displeasure, but essentially he has to go where drafted if he wants to play. There have been instances in the past, Eli Manning comes to mind, when in 2004 he was drafted by the Chargers, but did not want to play in a "soccer stadium" so he was traded to the NY Giants and the Chargers got Rivers.. If the team were to call the players bluff, he has no choice if he wants to play in the NFL.. he can do things behind the scenes like ask for a trade. If he were to do it publicly it would cast him in a very bad light, and may be viewed as a Prima Donna.. it is rare for a player to make a stink about where he is drafted.

Also, how do they decide what to pay draftees, given that they aren't in competition with rivals to offer the best salary?

Click to expand...

Drafted players are allotted money according to a scale defined by the NFL and NFL players association.. after their rookie contracts ( usually 4 or 5 years) they can become free agents and sign with another team for whatever the team and the players agent agree to.

Finally, anyone the Pats are likely to be looking at for this year? I would assume defence would be the priority.

Click to expand...

Good luck what the Patriots are going to do this year or any year.[/QUOTE]

Grimmy said:

Hi all, casual fan looking to learn a bit more about the draft system. I understand the basic premise, but what happens if a player doesn't want to sign for a particular team? For example a top player from Los Angeles presumably wouldn't be ecstatic if the Browns selected him first pick given how far away from his family he would be, and how bad the team are every year.

Also, how do they decide what to pay draftees, given that they aren't in competition with rivals to offer the best salary?

Finally, anyone the Pats are likely to be looking at for this year? I would assume defence would be the priority.

Thanks in advance!

Click to expand...

From the best of my knowledge: (Hopefully other more knowledgeable will correct my errors)

Unless you're Eli Manning you are required or expected to sign with the team that drafts you or you don't play. They can trade you etc... but pretty much all of the leverage is with the team that drafted you.

Rookie salaries are established by the CBA and there is very little variance between any two rookie contracts. Although I think they can get more or less guaranteed but pretty much the same dollar amount. Being able to draft is just as important as being able to trade or sign free agents to assemble the most competitive team possible with a limited dollar amount or salary cap. Rookies are cheap and the more you can find or draft to contribute to the team the more cash you'll have to sign other impactful but more expensive veterans.

Depending on who you ask the Pats are looking for the following in no particular order:

1 Nose Tackle
2 Linebacker with speed
3 Left Tackle
4 Possible Gronk replacement TE
5 Cornerback
6 QB

FYI there is a draft forum that is loaded with prospect info and breakdowns that is fun to read.

Patriots Draft Talk (<<< Link)

I'm learning a lot, thanks everybody! I'm surprised players tend to just accept where they are drafted. I suppose a player may prefer to spend his first year starting at the Browns rather than warming the bench at the Pats. Do the worse teams therefore tend to get a succession of good draftees who then leave for better teams after their first year once they have the freedom to do so? I assume draft contracts are just 1 year initially?

Grimmy said:

I'm learning a lot, thanks everybody! I'm surprised players tend to just accept where they are drafted. I suppose a player may prefer to spend his first year starting at the Browns rather than warming the bench at the Pats. Do the worse teams therefore tend to get a succession of good draftees who then leave for better teams after their first year once they have the freedom to do so? I assume draft contracts are just 1 year initially?

Click to expand...

Rookie contracts are for drafted players are for four years. For players drafted in the first round, the drafting team has the option of adding a fifth year (at a significant upcharge).

The players only become unrestricted free agents (UFA is the acronym) and free to pursue employment anywhere after their rookie contracts expire - unless the original team releases them before the contract expires. If they're released, they become "street free agents" (SFA), which is essentially no different from UFA status, except in terms of the compensatory draft pick system (a deeply arcane and complicated system, the workings of which are actually understood by only about a dozen people on the planet).

Undrafted college free agents (UDFA is the acronym for this) are signed for three years initially. After the three years, they become restricted free agents (RFA), no longer under contract to their original team, but the original team retains what amounts to a right-of-first-refusal if another team bids on their services.

Grimmy said:

I'm learning a lot, thanks everybody! I'm surprised players tend to just accept where they are drafted. I suppose a player may prefer to spend his first year starting at the Browns rather than warming the bench at the Pats. Do the worse teams therefore tend to get a succession of good draftees who then leave for better teams after their first year once they have the freedom to do so? I assume draft contracts are just 1 year initially?

Click to expand...

Rookie contracts are 4 to 5 years long. If the player is one that a team would like to hold onto they can negotiate a longer term contract in the 3rd or 4th year.

This is a good article read: 2017 NFL Draft 1st Round Rookie Salary Projections: What Garrett, Trubisky And Fournette Will Make

For the most part a rookie wants to play in the NFL and make a name for themselves. Once they become a free agent they can try to cash in on their name.

If players were allowed to say no to teams no one would play for the Jets.

Grimmy said:

I'm learning a lot, thanks everybody! I'm surprised players tend to just accept where they are drafted. I suppose a player may prefer to spend his first year starting at the Browns rather than warming the bench at the Pats. Do the worse teams therefore tend to get a succession of good draftees who then leave for better teams after their first year once they have the freedom to do so? I assume draft contracts are just 1 year initially?

Click to expand...

Imagine the mess it would be if the players had more input on whether they want to play for team A or team B.

Usually there used to be a culture of the 1st overall player accepting the responsibility of bringing that franchise from the worst place to a decent position the next year or in the case of a QB becoming the franchise player. Recently with the Browns getting the 1st round pick every year and showing no signs of improvement there are those rumors and memes about players not wanting to go there, especially QB's, but in the end seems like nothing serious and eventually the Browns will at least go up a bit in the draft order ... OR NOT.

Tony2046 said:

From the best of my knowledge: (Hopefully other more knowledgeable will correct my errors)

Unless you're Eli Manning...

Click to expand...

...or John Elway.
Why does Elway always get a pass when this subject comes up?

Every year some of Belichick's draft picks leave Pats fans dumbstruck. Seems to work out all right in the end, though

maust1013 said:

...or John Elway.
Why does Elway always get a pass when this subject comes up?

Click to expand...

I would say people might be too young to remember, but I'm on the younger end of people who saw Eli's entire career and by now, I've become enough of a student of the game that I know about the Elway thing. I'd have to imagine anyone else who's followed the NFL for this long would have picked that factoid up somewhere down the line.

That and for (cough) some (cough) reason Eli generates a level of antipathy that Elway does not.

varjao said:

Imagine the mess it would be if the players had more input on whether they want to play for team A or team B.

Usually there used to be a culture of the 1st overall player accepting the responsibility of bringing that franchise from the worst place to a decent position the next year or in the case of a QB becoming the franchise player. Recently with the Browns getting the 1st round pick every year and showing no signs of improvement there are those rumors and memes about players not wanting to go there, especially QB's, but in the end seems like nothing serious and eventually the Browns will at least go up a bit in the draft order ... OR NOT.

Click to expand...

Well, the Lions managed to work their way back from 0-16 to being a .500 club in semi-regular contention for the playoffs. So, the Browns ...

Ah, crap! Couldn't even type it with a straight face.

maust1013 said:

...or John Elway.
Why does Elway always get a pass when this subject comes up?

Click to expand...

You’re old Brother. Accept it and move on.

holyredeemer said:

You’re old Brother. Accept it and move on.

Click to expand...

Accept it? I revel in it, although if I thought I'd last this long maybe I would have treated my body a bit more like the temple my sainted mother told me it was and a tad less like the carnival tent I thought it was.

Bo Jackson also gets a pass, but I don't blame him. Tampa Bay in the 80s? Farrrrk. Raiders played that beautifully the following season, nabbing the KC Royal with a 7th round pick. One of Al Davis' shrewder moments.

Regards,
Chris