NFL 2020: the TB (Tom Brady) Buccaneers

[ursus arctos]

Surtain was preparing his son for this since they got the Ultrasound

[caja-dglh]

Uh oh - Da Bears time.

[Hot Pepsi]

The Draft is so baffling to a non-American, as I’ve said before.

Rich white men buying - largely - black men. Into an indentured (if high paying) servitude. Where they don’t get any choice about where they ply their trade or how much they get paid.

Of course it’s a step up for the players who were previously not getting paid by the rich white men while they were in college.

Almost as bizarre is all the showbiz stuff around it. I bumped into the draft channel surfing. Theme songs and Kings of Leon performances and cheering fans for what - in other countries - would effectively be contract negotiations with agents.

That’s not what indentured servitude means. They aren’t paying off a debt.

They’re free to go get a regular job like the rest of us.

[San Bernardhinault]

So were indentured servants. They didn’t have to sign up for X years at their masters’ pleasure. They could have stayed on in their previous downtrodden lives.

[caja-dglh]

Well we haven’t been through this before.

The contract is like a massive retention bonus and no-compete clause that is legally effective due to a closed shop. You can walk away, but if you want to play again someone owns your contract.

The comparison is really a Lefty Tucker Carlson move.

[Hot Pepsi]

They were indentured to pay off a debt. And their options were miserable.

These guys aren’t indebted. They can quit whenever they want.

And they’re being paid an outrageous fortune that was negotiated by collective bargaining. And they would not be making nearly this much if the system didn’t work like this because the NFL wouldn’t be nearly as popular as it is.

And, if they really don’t like who picks them, they can sit out.

A big problem with letting rookies negotiate is that it always ended up with a bunch of them holding out into training camp. It was bad for the team and bad for the players’ careers. It really only helped the agents.

The new system was supposed to help older players because, by agreeing to restrictions on rookie deals, they got better deals for veterans. But that just created a incentive for teams to let go high priced veterans for younger players who might not be quite as good but could be a lot cheaper.

[San Bernardhinault]

Oh, sure. But it’s still utterly bizarre and weird and restrictive and totally messes with the head of a non-American. The draft in particular is just so alien. The total lack of control for the players feels bonkers if you didn’t grow up with it.

[Hot Pepsi]

Competitive balance raises all boats. Or something.

As we discussed, to us it’s alien to imagine supporting clubs that have no chance of ever winning anything more than the privilege of competing at the same level they’re on now.


Some have proposed that a better system would be to just let the teams with a worse record the previous year spend more on rookies, but let them spend it however they want on whomever they can convince to sign. If they want to give it all to one player they could. Then players could then agree to take less than the highest offer to go with a team they prefer. Not many players would do that, but some would.

That would be great except for the aforementioned time issue. The agents would drag it out and it would be bad for the game.

But it might work ok in hockey. As it is, most of the players drafted continue to play junior or college hockey for a year or more before signing a pro contract.


The actual spectacle of The Draft itself is mindboggling to anyone over 40. It used to just be a meeting in a hotel and/or a conference call. ESPN started televising the NFL draft (I can’t recall who first started televising the NBA draft, but it was a few years later) in the 80s just because they needed content. Originally, it was on a weekday starting in the morning. Then they moved it to the weekend. Then they put the first round on a Friday - I think. Now we have this insanity of starting on Thursday night and dragging it out. Such is the interest in the NFL.

It also always used to be at Radio City Music Hall, but now they’re moving it around.

The media attention and the mock drafts and all that starts at the end of the previous year’s draft and just gets more and more intense throughout the year.

Its absurd because numerous studies have shown that nobody really knows anything and it’s all pretty much a crap shoot.

Mel Kiper and Todd McShay are impressive insofar as they have an encyclopedic knowledge of players and can rattle off what sound like very precise and scientific explanations of each player’s potential pros and cons, but they really have no idea if Trevor Lawrence will be better than Trey Lance or whatever.

So fans get all worked up about it but they won’t have any idea if their team did well or poorly tonight until about 2024.

And one player - even a QB - isn’t going to change the fortunes of a team like the Jets. It will take a whole lot of players, acquired in a few different ways, over several years to change them, if indeed that’s possible.

The NBA is a bit different in that one player can have a much bigger impact. But it’s still largely just a guess. Of course, the NBA has the whole lottery situation too, which is kinda nuts.

The NHL has also adopted a lottery, for better or worse, but one player doesn’t matter as much in hockey.

[caja-dglh]

It is fantasy football.

As money and interest from fantasy football (and drafting) increased, the interest in the draft and amping that up increased. People related to something unrelatable.

[ursus arctos]

It is also very normal to Australians now

[ursus arctos]

Even after ESPN got it

[Hot Pepsi]

It is fantasy football.

As money and interest from fantasy football (and drafting) increased, the interest in the draft and amping that up increased. People related to something unrelatable.

It started to pick up steam before fantasy football was popular, but that’s contributed to it.

Now that sports gambling is legal, I guess it gets more action, but it would be hard to bet on because last minute trades make it hard to predict much after the first few picks. Maybe one can bet the over/under for a particular player.

Mostly, I just think that fans think it matters because the NFL and ESPN have told them it matters and they’ve done so to keep people interested in their league 12 months a year.

Broadly, it does matter. Teams that draft well overall are better than those that don’t and where a player is likely to go in the draft largely determines when a player decides to enter the draft.

But it is not great TV.

A bit like the Oscars, the most interesting aspect is to see what people wear to the event.

[Hot Pepsi]

I once almost ran into Mel Kiper in Baltimore.

[ursus arctos]

Interesting pattern of pairing franchise quarterbacks with college teammates: Burrow/Chase, Tua/Smith and now Lawrence/Etienne

[caja-dglh]

Why coach when you can steal or borrow?

[caja-dglh]

unfortunately it also isn’t likely to be their college receiver sees a boon season and is not picked out *at all*

It is akin to signing Neymar and whoever he needs to be his mate

[ad hoc]

I don't really understand how fantasy football made/makes the draft more interesting. I play fantasy (American) football with people from here and that has zero effect on my zero interest in the draft. It's just something that happens in the off-season.

[ursus arctos]

It is more of a factor in "legacy/dynasty" leagues where players maintain much of their roster from one season to the next.

Which are a thing in fantasy gridiron, but not as much as they are in baseball or ice hockey.

The bigger factor was relentless promotion that made gridiron into a 12 month a year sport. A similar thing has happened with the recruiting of high school prospects by leading college programmes.

[ad hoc]

We have a dynasty league, but again - zero interest generated in the draft.

I can understand if I genuinely supported an NFL team I'd want to know who my team was signing and hoping we'd luck out.

[ad hoc]

Though actually my least favourite aspect of the fantasy game is the draft too. I'm always happy when it's over so I can see who I have and who I still need. I spend basically no time preparing and planning for it. Just show up, see who's available, make sure I get reasonable players at each position and that's it. Fairly often I don't even make it and just let Yahoo choose my squad (and I've won doing that before)

[ursus arctos]

I think that it is fair to say that you aren't a typical fantasy football player

Which is a very good thing, of course

[Eggchaser]

A bit like the Oscars, the most interesting aspect is to see what people wear to the event.

Judging by the brief bit I saw, end of school year length trousers.

[Simon G]

Though actually my least favourite aspect of the fantasy game is the draft too. I'm always happy when it's over so I can see who I have and who I still need. I spend basically no time preparing and planning for it. Just show up, see who's available, make sure I get reasonable players at each position and that's it. Fairly often I don't even make it and just let Yahoo choose my squad (and I've won doing that before)

I've missed both of the two drafts that I've been eligible for on the OTF Fantasy League so far. Most of my team tends to be trades.

Anyway, in last night's first round, WFT plumped for Jamin Davies, a LB out of Kentucky. The podcast I listen to had an interview with him and he sounds a really grounded lad, so I wish him all the best. His attitude seems to mirror Ron Rivera's completely. The hosts of the podcast seem very excited - I don't follow college football so I'll take their words for it.

[lambers]

I like looking over the picks in the first few rounds, but find the draft itself unwatchable. I tried one year, but it was a struggle.

Good to see the Packers draft a cornerback in the first round after spending/wasting last year's early picks on offensive players who barely played. Those of you who watch the college game can let me know if Stokes is actually another overreach too.

[Incandenza]

We have a dynasty league, but again - zero interest generated in the draft.

I can understand if I genuinely supported an NFL team I'd want to know who my team was signing and hoping we'd luck out.

Agreed--August rolls around and I have to study to find out who the rookies are that have a chance on making an impact. I just don't have much interest in the draft or knowing the rosters of NFL teams.