How would you change the draft

[bufordht]

It's kind of like an auction league in fantasy football. You all have $XXXX amount of dollars. It's all about perception. Some teams will go ALL IN to get their guy and blow 75% of their budget on onen player. Others will sit back and wait, and scoop up a lot of very good players for $XX each. Could be interesting. PLUS...would it make the league better? Teams that want LT or QB or WR or NT can big to get their guy, vs "best players available." IDK. I kind of like it.

Interesting. It would really help the teams that are just good enough to have no shot at a QB but not a legit contender. You would always be able to get the player you need.

Problem is it doesn't balance out the teams. The best teams could add just as much talent as the Lions and just get stronger.

Would bad teams like the Lions get more $? Then you get right back to tanking for the bigger draft pool.

 

[Brit In Chicago]

Auction.

Players are brought out in front of the GMs. If you're interested, you put in your bid of the contract you would offer. Player listens and selects the team based on contract as well as where they would rather play. They can only choose a team that has put a bid on them. There would need to be rules set in place to prevent teams from receiving numerous highly rated players for the same high profile position. Like 1 team getting the top 2 QBs in that class. Even though the chances of it happening would be very slim since the player is the one making the actual decision, rules would still need to be in place to make sure it doesn't happen. What rules could those be? I have no clue right now. To late to think that deeply on it.

Honestly I think this is my favorite take. Especially if you manage to tie in the auction prices to the amount of cap space a team has available. Think that could also become a good way for rookies to get more game time for development purposes.

The teams with more cap space (and likely less players) after the free agency period would have more buying power. They then have the freedom to either go hard on higher ranked prospects or spread their resources out amongst prospects. Teams that need to rebuild could do so in a shorter window and because the free agency and rookie window would be more interconnected you could even find a way of implementing a system where teams take a smaller cap hit on veteran releases if said cap space is used toward signing and developing rookies.

Just initial thoughts on the whole auction thing,

 

[bearsforever]

It's kind of like an auction league in fantasy football. You all have $XXXX amount of dollars. It's all about perception. Some teams will go ALL IN to get their guy and blow 75% of their budget on onen player. Others will sit back and wait, and scoop up a lot of very good players for $XX each. Could be interesting. PLUS...would it make the league better? Teams that want LT or QB or WR or NT can big to get their guy, vs "best players available." IDK. I kind of like it.

This is exactly what I was thinking when I wrote it. Was just to tired to go through and try to explain in to much detail.

Everyone gets the same money to spend on players. They go in and get the positions they want/need. It's up to the team to decide how much of that money to use per player. So you can end up with a couple star quality players or a bunch of decent players. Plus, remember, it's not always a sure thing the player will work out in the NFL. It's a crapshoot.

Like I said, rules would need to be made for this type of thing. One thing I can think of is there would have to be a minimum contract amount you have to spend on a player. If a guy steps up to be auctioned off and only 1 team is interested, that team can't say we're buying you for $1.

There would be absolutely no need for tanking as your finishing place from last year has no effect on the amount you have to spend. Everyone is on equal footing. How you spend your money is up to you and can make you a well rounded team or a very good team in one way but weak in another.

 

[Hutch1975]

Go to a 16-yeam playoff.

For the 16 teams that don't make it to the playoffs, they each get a number, 1-16, with the worst team getting #1 (applying current tiebreakers).
Team 1: 8 balls.
Teams 2-4: 6 balls each
Teams 5-10: 4 balls each
Teams 11-16: 5 balls each

Worst team will still get the highest chance at the #1 overall pick. The next three teams get the second-highest chance each. However, those who just missed the playoffs will have a better chance at the #1 overall pick than the six teams who weren't truly awful but who also weren't doing so well.

Think of it as anti-tanking incentive.

But go to 12 rounds again.

 

[Monster]

I’d leave it or add more rounds… top picks bust more times than not anyway.

 

[remydat]

Easiest way would be draft lottery with every non playoff team having equal chance to get No 1.

The more radical and exciting way would be to set up a consolation brackett where the non play teams play for the top pick and the teams with the best non playoff reacord get a bye.

You can go back to 16 regular season games because now every team is going to basically be playing a post season. Just pay the players more to compensate and sell the consolation bracket playoffs to a network that currently doesnt have a TV contract. Play the consolation games on Thursdayr and Friday so it doesnt conflict with NFL players.

That would probably be worth a few billion to some network.

 

[BaBaBlacksheep]

4) Nothing.

It’s the best draft in sports by a longshot and people want to change it?

 

[Bearly]

It’s the best draft in sports by a longshot and people want to change it?

This. The issue is throwing games but fucking up an institution isn't the fix. The way to tank is to tell your HC to do his best he can but you're rebuilding and please play the backups and elevate some guys from the PS to see what you actually have to work with. Tanking for the 1st pick is sort of a fail anyway. How often is the 1st QB taken the best one?

The issue is throwing games and not so much the draft result of same.
Is Herbert worse than Burrow?
Mayfield or Donald better than Allen?
Goff or Wentz better than Prescott?
Kyler Murray was a win but really, does a team actually tank for a 5'10" QB?

 

[Hutch1975]

Easiest way would be draft lottery with every non playoff team having equal chance to get No 1.

The more radical and exciting way would be to set up a consolation brackett where the non play teams play for the top pick and the teams with the best non playoff reacord get a bye.

You can go back to 16 regular season games because now every team is going to basically be playing a post season. Just pay the players more to compensate and sell the consolation bracket playoffs to a network that currently doesnt have a TV contract. Play the consolation games on Thursdayr and Friday so it doesnt conflict with NFL players.

That would probably be worth a few billion to some network.

How about a two-tier "consolation" bracket? Take the playoffs back down to 12 teams. Bottom four teams will play to determine the draft order. 1-4 seeds, with 1 being the worst. Winners of the first round play for the #1 overall pick, losers play to decide 3 and 4.

Teams that go 5-16 will get an extra pick after the second and third rounds. They will get the 7-18 spots in the draft order.

Teams 17-20 play their own bracket. Losers in the first round get picks 19-20. Winners play to see who gets #5 overall.

Wild Card Week - Wild Card round Saturday/Sunday, 17-20 bracket first round Monday night

Divisional Week - Saturday/Sunday have the Divisional playoffs, "Bottom Four" Play their first round.

Conference week - Conference championships and the 17-20 finals (determining who gets #5 overall)

Pre-Super Bowl Week - The "Bottom Four" final doubleheader with the "#3 overall" and "#1 overall" games.

Pro Bowl then moves back to AFTER the Super Bowl.

 

[Bearly]

Though I said it doesn't need fixing, I would be ok with an unweighted lottery for the 1st 5 picks or so.

 

[remydat]

How about a two-tier "consolation" bracket? Take the playoffs back down to 12 teams. Bottom four teams will play to determine the draft order. 1-4 seeds, with 1 being the worst. Winners of the first round play for the #1 overall pick, losers play to decide 3 and 4.

Teams that go 5-16 will get an extra pick after the second and third rounds. They will get the 7-18 spots in the draft order.

Teams 17-20 play their own bracket. Losers in the first round get picks 19-20. Winners play to see who gets #5 overall.

Wild Card Week - Wild Card round Saturday/Sunday, 17-20 bracket first round Monday night

Divisional Week - Saturday/Sunday have the Divisional playoffs, "Bottom Four" Play their first round.

Conference week - Conference championships and the 17-20 finals (determining who gets #5 overall)

Pre-Super Bowl Week - The "Bottom Four" final doubleheader with the "#3 overall" and "#1 overall" games.

Pro Bowl then moves back to AFTER the Super Bowl.

I was thinking you have a 16 team consolation with no distinction between AFC and NFC. Bottom 2 teams are out ie Jags and Lions so then no incentive to tank. They just get say the 5 & 6th picks in the draft. Then here is how the rounds play out using the current non-play teams and assuming the higher ranked team wins.

Week 1	Week 2	Week 3	Week 4
Jets vs Chargers	Falcons vs Chargers	Colts vs Chargers	Chargers vs Dolphins
Giants vs Dolphins	Vikings vs Dolphins	Saints vs Dolphins
Texans vs Saints	Browns vs Saints
Panthers vs Colts	Ravens vs Colts
Bears vs Ravens
WFT vs Browns
Seahawks vs Vikings
Broncos vs Falcons

You play weeks 1-3 on Thursday and Friday and the the Toilet Bowl championship this week ie week of the Pro Bowl. So the result would be Chargers, Dolphins, Saints and Colts get the top 4 picks. Then Jags get 5 and Lions get 6. Rest of the teams get picks in reverse order of their finish.

 

[Hutch1975]

I was thinking you have a 16 team consolation with no distinction between AFC and NFC. Bottom 2 teams are out ie Jags and Lions so then no incentive to tank. They just get say the 5 & 6th picks in the draft. Then here is how the rounds play out using the current non-play teams and assuming the higher ranked team wins.

Week 1	Week 2	Week 3	Week 4
Jets vs Chargers	Falcons vs Chargers	Eagles vs Chargers	Chargers vs Dolphins
Giants vs Dolphins	Vikings vs Dolphins	Saints vs Dolphins
Texans vs Saints	Browns vs Saints
Panthers vs Eagles	Ravens vs Eagles
Bears vs Ravens
WFT vs Browns
Seahawks vs Vikings
Broncos vs Falcons

You play weeks 1-3 on Thursday and Friday and the the Toilet Bowl championship this week ie week of the Pro Bowl. So the result would be Chargers, Dolphins, Saints and Eagles get the top 4 picks. Then Jags get 5 and Lions get 6. Rest of the teams get picks in reverse order of their finish.

Not a bad thought, but I think we need to give incentives not to tank, and quite frankly, I like the idea of giving the #3 pick to a team on the cusp of the playoffs - and to sweeten the pot, the winners of the Heartbreak and Junk Bowl get extra picks after the first round. Plus, there is the NLFPA to deal with, and a lot of Thursday/Friday games may be an issue.

Maybe rework it like this on the two-tier bracket - one is the Heartbreak, for the teams that just missed the playoffs, the other is the Junk Bowl bracket, for the four worst in the league.

Again, if you take the playoffs down to 12, the Heartbreak Bowl and Junk Bowl brackets can fit into the current TV broadcast scheme.

Wild Card Week	Divisional	Conference	Junk Bowl and Couch Bowl
AFC WC2 v. D3	AFC @D1	AFC Champ	Couch Bowl (losers of 4 at 1 and 3 at 2) Winner gets #4 overall pick
AFC WC1 v. D4	AFC @D2	NFC Champ	Junk Bowl (winners of 4 at 1 and 3 at 2) Winner gets #1 overall pick
NFC WC2 v. D3	NFC @D1	Heartbreak Bowl (for #3 overall pick)
NFC WC1 v. D4	NCF @D2
17 at 20	4 at 1
18 at 19	3 at 2

1: Junk Bowl champ
2: Junk Bowl loser
3: Heartbreak Bowl champ
4: Couch Bowl champ
5: Couch Bowl runner-up
6: Heartbreak Bowl runner-up
7-18: Normal NFL Draft
19: Team that had smallest margin of loss in the first round of the Heartbreak Bracket
20: Team with the biggest margin of loss in the first round of the Heartbreak Bracket
21-32: Normal NFL Playoff draft order
33: Heartbreak Bowl Champ
34: Junk Bowl Champ
35: Couch Bowl Champ
36: Junk Bowl Runner-Up

Teams from 7-18 will get extra picks after the second and third rounds.

For the Heartbreak Bowl, here's how it would work using 2019:
First round would be Steelers at Bears and Cowboys at Rams.
Bears beat the Steelers and Cowboys beat the Rams
If the Bears beat the Cowboys (which they did in the 2019 regular season), they'd have the #3 overall pick that could convey to the Raiders due to the Khalil Mack trade, but they would also get the 33 overall pick.