Too much time between combine and Draft

[Sam Bam Cunningham]

They should have the draft first week of April. This whoke predraft period drags on and on to the point where the drama is gone.
Hundreds of mock drafts with multiple versions. Paralysis by overanalysis.
Its all too much
Roger move the draft up

 

[signbabybrady]

They should have the draft first week of April. This whoke predraft period drags on and on to the point where the drama is gone.
Hundreds of mock drafts with multiple versions. Paralysis by overanalysis.
Its all too much
Roger move the draft up

They should have the draft before free agency.

 

[KCSVEN]

NFL off season is pretty long, after the draft you have 3 months of time before training camp. You don't want it before March Madness ends April 8. There are a ton of fringe players that get to showcase themselves at the individual pro days which take most of March to get done, can't do them all in 1 or 2 weeks as teams can't attend 5 of them going on at once.
I think the current timing works pretty well.

 

[Thelonious]

LOL. Maybe the NFL thinks it's important that fans have time to complain about every conceivable problem with every conceivable decision their team might possibly make, a task we are very eager to acomplish, at length, ad nauseum..

 

[Jlaff]

They should have the draft before free agency.

They should have the draft as soon as my team is eliminated from the playoffs.

 

[ralmat55]

They should have the draft before free agency.

The draft only exists because it’s collectively bargained. The NFLPA would never agree to having it before free agency as that would only devalue the veteran free agents.

It’s not that there’s too much time until the draft. There are just too many opinions, too many experts (amateur and professional) and too much speculation all of which too many people overreact to.

The draft was a lot more fun to follow and look forward to when all you had was a “Streets and Smith’s” draft guide along with Joel Buschbaum’s ratings in “Pro Football Weekly” plus the memories of the college games you had watched involving the year’s draft prospects. The draft was more fun when Mel Kiper actually watched and evaluated the players rather than just parroting the opinions of friendly GMs. The draft was a lot more fun when it was discussed and debated with a handful of friends rather than an internet full of people many of whom are not humble enough to understand that they only “believe” things not “know” things.

I detest Bill Polian. Smiles spontaneously come to my face realizing all the crying and rule change lobbying he did in the early 0s turned out to favor the Patriots far more than his Colts. But, I heard him refer to the process recently on SiriusXM as the “Draft-Industrial Complex” and thought that sounded just about right.

 

[signbabybrady]

The draft only exists because it’s collectively bargained. The NFLPA would never agree to having it before free agency as that would only devalue the veteran free agents.

You're probably right but there is typically a group of free agents that have to wait until after the draft to get signed. Seems like it would make more sense to free agents too.

It's how basketball and hockey do it.

 

[paco130]

They should have the draft first week of April. This whoke predraft period drags on and on to the point where the drama is gone.
Hundreds of mock drafts with multiple versions. Paralysis by overanalysis.
Its all too much
Roger move the draft up

Totally agree.

 

[mgteich]

Totally agree.

This is an issue for teams that were no tin the playoffs or even in the run for the playoffs.

 

[mgteich]

Totally agree.

Of course, then the time between the draft and Training Camp would be waaaay too long.

 

[jmt57]

NFL off season is pretty long, after the draft you have 3 months of time before training camp. You don't want it before March Madness ends April 8. There are a ton of fringe players that get to showcase themselves at the individual pro days which take most of March to get done, can't do them all in 1 or 2 weeks as teams can't attend 5 of them going on at once.
I think the current timing works pretty well.

I'm with you for the most part.

I agree in regards to the Pro Days, but those are usually done by March 30.

Give the teams a week after that for final conclusions. It's not as if they haven't been gearing up with their decisions prior.

For the sake of television/networks/money, wait until after the NCAA Final Four.
That would make today Day 3 of the 2024 Draft.
No need to wait the additional two weeks.
Now change the formula for compensatory draft picks from May 1 to the draft day.
Get back to signing/releasing veteran free agents based on those rookie additions.

 

[VectorPrime]

Teams have way way way too much time to overthink things and psyche themselves out.

 

[Brotherblues]

Move up the draft, then you have a longer the drought from draft to training camp. You're taking from one waiting period and adding it to another. Really no benefit as a fan. Unless you think 3 months isn't enough time to dissect our rookie class and build them all up to HoFers before they've even played a snap.

 

[ahmed]

I never understood the pleasure people derive from mock drafts when they have no involvement in the teams' decision making.

I agree we should have the draft in early April - right after March Madness.

 

[cmasspatsfan]

Didn't it used to be earlier or am I misremembering?

 

[farn]

Time is concerning. It’s just passing so fast. Especially as I age. I mean, I thought John Ritter was old. He was 54 ! Like, holy.

I read on the internet in recent weeks that life is like a roll of toilet paper. The closer you get to the end, the faster it runs down… I tend to agree.

 

[IcyPatriot]

There is much ... much more going on than simply mock drafts and over analysis of the mediation. Thread assumes way too much. Those late round and after players are valuable. Possible cuts .... staff input ... on and on ... stop pouting.

CBS Sports
www.cbssports.com
2024 NFL Draft: What happens in April? Inside what NFL teams do in the weeks ...

 

[jmt57]

Didn't it used to be earlier or am I misremembering?

I thought so too, but it's been about this time for a while now.

List of NFL drafts - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Through the '74 season it occurred right after the Super Bowl, in late January.
In 1977 it jumped all the way up until the first week of May.
For a while in the late 90s-early 00s it was the third week in April, but it's mostly been the last week of April since 2003.

On a side note the first televised draft was 1982, and the first combine was 1980.


With the NFLPA having negotiated fewer practices and fewer pre-season games, one benefit to an earlier draft could be getting the rookies their playbooks earlier. I know the contract limits how much contact there is between coaches and players, but that could be beneficial as well.

 

[XLIX]

The timing of the draft itself doesn't bother me but I really wish they would release the schedule sooner. The NFL - more than any other sport - has fans travel a lot to see games. It sure would be nice to have some time to make arrangements.

The problem is they don't want to release the schedule until after the draft so in that sense I wish they would move the draft up.

 

[SammyBlueCat]

The Final 4 has been mentioned a few times in this thread.

In past generations, some athletes played basketball and football.