Draft Strategy: UDFA and Trading for Later Years Picks.

[Danger Zone]

Disclaimer: This isn't a serious proposal. It's meant as just a fun hypothetical.

Strategy:

1. Use your first round picks on difference makers.
2. Trade away all your 2nd to 7th round picks to accumulate much higher picks in next years Draft or the year after.
3. Pick the very best of the best in the UDFA market.

Without spending all your Rookie Draft money on your actual Draftees, I imagine you can double anyone elses salary offer to any hopeful UDFA rookie and get whomever you want.

The question is: If you can pick whomever you want in the UDFA market, is there enough talent there to put together a competitive team?

The other question us: How many 1st round picks (1 or 2) can you get by trading this year picks for next year picks?

Second proposal: 2. Trade away your 2nd to 7th round picks and accumulate a mass of next years 3rd round picks.


All meant in good fun.

Im not seriously proposing we do this. If nothing else you guys can help settle a debate Im having with my in person football buddies about the depth of the UDFA market.

 

[Off The Grid]

As a Point of Discussion, this is a great one!!

1 ~ Unless I'm mistaken, there's a Signing Bonus Cap on UFA's ~ what you Earthlings inexplicably choose to call "UDFA's". As one who's always trolled deeply into the Talent Market, I have long carried an intense interest in UFA's, so I applaud yours!! And I can only find Florio to confirm that Cap.

2 ~ But even supposing that the Cap is a Fact ~ and I'm 99% sure it is ~ I haven't read anything about a Salary Cap on UFA's. And if UFA Salaries are presumably simply treated as part of the general Salary Cap...well, then: Your Idea ~ shockingly similar to the approach I've always planned if I ever have Opportunity to take the Reigns!! ~ could actually work...and work beautifully!!

3 ~ One would have to keep in mind, of course, that UFA's have as many as 32 choices of who they sign with, and with most of them facing an extremely tough Battle to see a penny of the comparatively bloated Salaries we're talking about, they'd have to be persuaded that they stand as good a Chance to make our Roster as any of the other 31 whose Teams on the other lines, bidding against us.

4 ~ That is why my Strategy is to Trade Down deep into Day 3, thus amassing as many 6th & 7th Rounders as I imagine I can squeeze out'f the Competition: So that I can forestall my 31 Rivals and ultimately position myself as the only Bidder for the Services of those who'd otherwise go UFA.

5 ~ To sum up: I love your Line of Thinking on this, Brother Zone!! Props!!

 

[NormZauchin]

I'm not sure I understand your strategy, OTG, but I think Belichick has considered the following. Trade a first round for two seconds; trade the two seconds for four thirds; trade the four thirds for eight fourths; trade the eight fourths for sixteen fifths; trade the sixteen fifths for thirty-two sixths; --- then trade the thirty-two sixths for thirty-two sevenths in the current year and thirty-two sevenths in the next year's draft.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

As a Point of Discussion, this is a great one!!

1 ~ Unless I'm mistaken, there's a Signing Bonus Cap on UFA's ~ what you Earthlings inexplicably choose to call "UDFA's". As one who's always trolled deeply into the Talent Market, I have long carried an intense interest in UFA's, so I applaud yours!! And I can only find Florio to confirm that Cap.

You are correct, such a cap exists. IIRC, it's in the CBA, but I don't feel like looking up exactly where. The limit was $75,000 total in 2011, with no more than $25,000 per individual player. I believe it grows as the rookie cap does.

OTOH, you're allowed to guarantee as much of their actual salaries as you want; that's partly how the Pats landed Armstead (they guaranteed his entire 2013 salary).

As a minor point, I think UDFA came about to distinguish undrafted free agents from unrestricted free agents.

2 ~ But even supposing that the Cap is a Fact ~ and I'm 99% sure it is ~ I haven't read anything about a Salary Cap on UFA's. And if UFA Salaries are presumably simply treated as part of the general Salary Cap...well, then: Your Idea ~ shockingly similar to the approach I've always planned if I ever have Opportunity to take the Reigns!! ~ could actually work...and work beautifully!!

IIRC, there is no cap on UDFA salaries, although I know their signing bonuses fall under the rookie cap.

3 ~ One would have to keep in mind, of course, that UFA's have as many as 32 choices of who they sign with, and with most of them facing an extremely tough Battle to see a penny of the comparatively bloated Salaries we're talking about, they'd have to be persuaded that they stand as good a Chance to make our Roster as any of the other 31 whose Teams on the other lines, bidding against us.

See #1 above.

 

[Danger Zone]

This is probably a less original tangent of the idea.

But lets go with the idea that you can build a team around UFAs for a year or two because you can lure in any UFA you want by paying/guaranteeing them more than any other team (with the 5 million you'd normally have used on the Rookies you never drafted).

The question I have is: What is a reasonable expectation to receive in trade for each of your this-years picks?

This-years 1st round pick for next years 1st + X?
This-years 2nd round pick for next years 2nd + X?
This-years 3rd round pick for next years 3rd + X?
etc..

By duplicating your this-years picks for another teams next-years pick plus X, you get to the point that this system becomes self-sustaining.

Next year we would have our normal picks 1-7 plus the other 1-7 picks that we traded for... PLUS all the X trades.

We would then have those X picks as a kind of bonus set of picks every year going forward because we always trade our extra this-years 1-7 picks to gain another set of next-years 1-7 picks plus more X picks.

So Im really curious what people think this-years picks are worth when they are traded for next-years picks.

And I think it's awesome that Im not the only one that suspects we could make a viable team out of UFAs..