Change the draft

[duffybr]

The NFL draft, if not all professional drafts, seems to have become more of a burden to the teams “earning” the first few picks than was originally intended. There is a lot of evidence to suggest that NBA teams are tanking games to jockey for pick position.

Without extensively going into numbers and such, imagine if Oakland were to get the top pick again next year. What would that do to their cap situation?

Instead each team should be able to choose their draft position in the first round, picking worst record to best record. Even more interesting, let that rank be their rank throughout the draft.

Everyone this year would be angling for 4-7.

Thoughts?

[OregonRaven]

In a way you could get away with something like that now. Remember the 2003 draft when Minnesota didn't get their pick in on time, and basically the next teams behind them were allowed to submit their picks until the Vikings finally got theirs in? The Ravens were one of those teams that jumped ahead and we picked Suggs. I think it was Kevin Williams Minnesota wound up picking and he was the guy they wanted all along and wound up getting him like 3 picks later than they would have, and thus signed him to a cheaper contract. If I recall, the Vikings didn't do it on purpose, and it might have had something to do with the trade they tried to make with us but the NFL's phones were busy, but it worked out OK for them.

[RavenScallywag]

Good point, but they actually picked right ahead of us...

Basically, we wanted to trade up, so we reached an agreement with them with a few mins to go. Well, apparently the Jags caught wind of this and in a smart move by them (dumb that NFL would let this happen), they allegedly tied up the NFL phones so the Vikings couldn't call in the trade. The Vikings didn't have a plan B so their time expired and the Jags, with the next pick, took Byron Leftwich. Our deal was off then, and I think another team picked before the Vikings filled out a draft card and threw it in, just ahead of our pick.

Theoretically, you could do that, but you'd be losing a lot of value to do that. Granted, you may not find trade partners willing to give up what you want, but I think it's impossible that there wouldn't be a team willing to move up. Let's just say we go from 8 to 13 using this method. We've just given up, according to the draft value chart, a high 3rd round pick in value. True, you get the player you want (theoretically, since the more picks you let slide, the more chances those teams might pick your player or trade with someone who picks your player), but it's like selling your house for what you paid for it instead of turning a profit. Also, I think the guy the Vikings picked that year tried to make a play that he would've been the 7th pick in the draft and they should pay him as such. So it may not always be a sure fire way to better your cap situation.

[UKRavenStockers]

You lose value and also you don't move down the order by not getting your pick in on time. Say the Dolphins wanted Ryan but didn't want to pay him #1 overall money, they couldn't get around that by passing up on their pick window, the Rams picking and then picking Ryan. As they did not trade their selection Ryan would still have been taken with the first overall selection.

The Vikings got their pick in late two years in a row but they still had to pay McKinnie and Kevin Williams the money as if they were selected at the original selection and the teams who jumped in front of them didn't pay their picks anymore either.

[HEAP86HEAP]

The draft value chart is a nice estimate, but a draft pick is only really "worth" what somebody else is willing to pay. The more you need to get rid of it, the less they will offer. The GM has to decide which is the lesser of two evils, getting a player at more than they want to pay, or getting out for less than an ideal amount. Maybe he can unload another player already on the roster as part of the trade as a way to clear up some cap space, etc. In the salary cap era, judging things like this is what makes and breaks teams for multiple seasons. It is just as important as coaching and the players actually involved in the games.

Teams like Oakland need to get with the program, or suffer the consequences.