The NFL Realignment Project

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http://247sports.com/Article/Rearranging-the-NFL-divisions-37732393

Not every current division alignment in the NFL makes geographic sense, but is that a bad thing or a good thing?

(Photo: Photo Illustration by Ted Hyman, 247Sports)
It's always fun to play "what if" when it comes to division alignment and imagine what your team's division would be like if it had different teams. But it can also serve as a reminder that maybe things don't need to be changed.

We tried to take a look at what might happen if NFL divisions were moved around to put the teams closer to each other on the map. After sorting it all out and somewhat randomly assigning teams a conference, the results came out somewhat mixed.

AFC East
Baltimore Ravens
Buffalo Bills
Carolina Panthers
Washington Redskins

There's a couple divisions that don't mesh as well geographically as others due to an uneven amount of teams in certain regions of the country, and this is one of them. Baltimore and Washington certainly make geographic sense, but Buffalo gets caught between our picks for how we shaped the AFC North and NFC East, while Carolina is left hanging out there after shaping the AFC and NFC South. What's left makes for kind of an unappealing division.

AFC North
Cincinnati
Cleveland
Detroit
Pittsburgh

This turned out to be almost the same as the current AFC North with the exception of the switch of Baltimore and Detroit. The Lions would fit in well here, actually, at least in terms of rivalries. Detroit already shares divisions with Cleveland in other sports, plus there would be that Michigan-Ohio thing going on. There may not be two neighboring states in this country that dislike each other as much as those two.

AFC South
Atlanta
Jacksonville
Miami
Tampa Bay

There wouldn't be many frequent flyer miles to be had in this Florida-heavy division. There might be a low number of interesting games too, at least until the Bucs and Jags started to get better.

(Photo: Photo Illustration by Ted Hyman, 247Sports)
AFC West
Arizona
Denver
Kansas City
St. Louis

Kansas City and St. Louis are sitting there in the middle of the country, not quite east or north enough to be in the AFC or NFC North and not quite south enough to be in the AFC or NFC South. They're actually not as far west as Dallas and Houston, but those two teams are needed in the south. So the Chiefs and Rams stay out west.

NFC East
New England Patriots
New York Giants
New York Jets
Philadelphia Eagles

Well, this would certainly at least be interesting. There would be twice the Boston/New York rivalry going on, and you'd have the two New York teams playing for higher stakes on a yearly basis than just the Snoopy Trophy. Then Philly would be a good geographic rivalry for all of them. This would be a nice big backyard brawl.

NFC South
Dallas
Houston
New Orleans
Tennessee

The guess here is that the overwhelming majority of Cowboys fans would want to stay in the NFC East. There's too much history and too many rivalries there. However, if they were put into a more geographically friendly division, this is what it might look like. Dallas, Houston, and New Orleans might make for fun backyard rivals, while Tennessee would slide in as the fourth team.

NFC North
Chicago
Green Bay
Indianapolis
Minnesota

Indianapolis is not in the south, as anyone who has been to city in January or February can attest to. Therefore, they get moved to the NFC North to replace Detroit. Other than that, the Black and Blue Division remains the same, and that's a good thing.

(Photo: Photo Illustration by Ted Hyman, 247Sports)
NFC West
Seattle
San Francisco
Oakland
San Diego

They're really still not all that close together, but we're throwing the teams that hug the West Coast in the same spot. Things would change slightly down the line based on whatever happens with the NFL and Los Angeles.

After looking at what the league might look like with a geographic realignment, here are a few deductions.

* The division alignment in the NFL is fine, for the most part. If anything, this exercise teaches us that the NFL divisions are pretty good the way they are. This isn't college football, where we could tinker all day with different combinations of teams and come up with all sorts of fun conferences. The NFL divisions by and large work and for the most part probably shouldn't be touched.

* It would be difficult to make drastic realignment work. An uneven amount of teams between regions, a few teams in odd places geographically compared to the rest of the league and a whole host of rich rivalries make it hard to shift things around in a way that would make it better than it is now.

* Dallas should stay put. The Cowboys being in the NFC East doesn't make much geographic sense. But after rearranging the teams and playing around with different realignment possibilities, there was nothing nearly as compelling for the Cowboys as the current NFC East.

It can always be fun to speculate about things like this, but after going through this exercise, it made us appreciate the way things are. In other words, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

 

[JackDRams]

I've kind of grown fond of hating the teams in our division now. Though it would be pretty cool to have new rivals. I like the Rams vs Chiefs rivalry idea. Geographically it makes some sense.

 

[CGI_Ram]

I've kind of grown fond of hating the teams in our division now. Though it would be pretty cool to have new rivals. I like the Rams vs Chiefs rivalry idea. Geographically it makes some sense.

Nice avatar.

 

[CGI_Ram]

http://247sports.com/Article/Rearranging-the-NFL-divisions-37732393

Not every current division alignment in the NFL makes geographic sense, but is that a bad thing or a good thing?

(Photo: Photo Illustration by Ted Hyman, 247Sports)
It's always fun to play "what if" when it comes to division alignment and imagine what your team's division would be like if it had different teams. But it can also serve as a reminder that maybe things don't need to be changed.

We tried to take a look at what might happen if NFL divisions were moved around to put the teams closer to each other on the map. After sorting it all out and somewhat randomly assigning teams a conference, the results came out somewhat mixed.

AFC East
Baltimore Ravens
Buffalo Bills
Carolina Panthers
Washington Redskins

There's a couple divisions that don't mesh as well geographically as others due to an uneven amount of teams in certain regions of the country, and this is one of them. Baltimore and Washington certainly make geographic sense, but Buffalo gets caught between our picks for how we shaped the AFC North and NFC East, while Carolina is left hanging out there after shaping the AFC and NFC South. What's left makes for kind of an unappealing division.

AFC North
Cincinnati
Cleveland
Detroit
Pittsburgh

This turned out to be almost the same as the current AFC North with the exception of the switch of Baltimore and Detroit. The Lions would fit in well here, actually, at least in terms of rivalries. Detroit already shares divisions with Cleveland in other sports, plus there would be that Michigan-Ohio thing going on. There may not be two neighboring states in this country that dislike each other as much as those two.

AFC South
Atlanta
Jacksonville
Miami
Tampa Bay

There wouldn't be many frequent flyer miles to be had in this Florida-heavy division. There might be a low number of interesting games too, at least until the Bucs and Jags started to get better.

(Photo: Photo Illustration by Ted Hyman, 247Sports)
AFC West
Arizona
Denver
Kansas City
St. Louis

Kansas City and St. Louis are sitting there in the middle of the country, not quite east or north enough to be in the AFC or NFC North and not quite south enough to be in the AFC or NFC South. They're actually not as far west as Dallas and Houston, but those two teams are needed in the south. So the Chiefs and Rams stay out west.

NFC East
New England Patriots
New York Giants
New York Jets
Philadelphia Eagles

Well, this would certainly at least be interesting. There would be twice the Boston/New York rivalry going on, and you'd have the two New York teams playing for higher stakes on a yearly basis than just the Snoopy Trophy. Then Philly would be a good geographic rivalry for all of them. This would be a nice big backyard brawl.

NFC South
Dallas
Houston
New Orleans
Tennessee

The guess here is that the overwhelming majority of Cowboys fans would want to stay in the NFC East. There's too much history and too many rivalries there. However, if they were put into a more geographically friendly division, this is what it might look like. Dallas, Houston, and New Orleans might make for fun backyard rivals, while Tennessee would slide in as the fourth team.

NFC North
Chicago
Green Bay
Indianapolis
Minnesota

Indianapolis is not in the south, as anyone who has been to city in January or February can attest to. Therefore, they get moved to the NFC North to replace Detroit. Other than that, the Black and Blue Division remains the same, and that's a good thing.

(Photo: Photo Illustration by Ted Hyman, 247Sports)
NFC West
Seattle
San Francisco
Oakland
San Diego

They're really still not all that close together, but we're throwing the teams that hug the West Coast in the same spot. Things would change slightly down the line based on whatever happens with the NFL and Los Angeles.

After looking at what the league might look like with a geographic realignment, here are a few deductions.

* The division alignment in the NFL is fine, for the most part. If anything, this exercise teaches us that the NFL divisions are pretty good the way they are. This isn't college football, where we could tinker all day with different combinations of teams and come up with all sorts of fun conferences. The NFL divisions by and large work and for the most part probably shouldn't be touched.

* It would be difficult to make drastic realignment work. An uneven amount of teams between regions, a few teams in odd places geographically compared to the rest of the league and a whole host of rich rivalries make it hard to shift things around in a way that would make it better than it is now.

* Dallas should stay put. The Cowboys being in the NFC East doesn't make much geographic sense. But after rearranging the teams and playing around with different realignment possibilities, there was nothing nearly as compelling for the Cowboys as the current NFC East.

It can always be fun to speculate about things like this, but after going through this exercise, it made us appreciate the way things are. In other words, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

I can't get past the AFC and NFC divide.

This alignment makes sense otherwise.

 

[Memphis Ram]

Seems to me his AFC West and NFC South should switch a couple teams.

Switch Dallas and Houston to the AFC West with Arizona and Denver and the move St. Louis and Kansas City to the NFC South with New Orleans and Tennessee.

 

[ramsince62]

The Rams have NEVER been an AFC team....if they ever do become one, that would end it for me....but I don't think that will happen, it's just too horrific to contemplate.:eek:

 

[DaveFan'51]

These make sense, Geographically, But they eliminate all the "Good Old" rivalries! for the most part! ( GB & Chicago still meet up)
If this were to happen, I hope it not until I'm Dead and Gone!! PERIOD

 

[Loyal]

The Rams have NEVER been an AFC team....if they ever do become one, that would end it for me....but I don't think that will happen, it's just too horrific to contemplate.:eek:

I am almost with you there...I would absolutely hate to be anywhere but the NFC West. I grew up hating the AFC/AFL....Younguns don't care about that I guess...

 

[RAGRam]

Looks good to me.

 

[Selassie I]

Fuck the AFC.

 

[Memphis Ram]

Rivalries can come and go for me. My disdain for the Falcons and Saints easily shifted to Arizona and Seattle in time.

 

[CGI_Ram]

Rivalries can come and go for me. My disdain for the Falcons and Saints easily shifted to Arizona and Seattle in time.

I get that.

If I lived in an NFL city, it would be cool for the rivals to be geographically close.

Not only could you road trip to a road game, but neighbours near the dividing lines would be spirited opportunities to talk trash.

 

[JackDRams]

The Rams have NEVER been an AFC team....if they ever do become one, that would end it for me....but I don't think that will happen, it's just too horrific to contemplate.:eek:

I can understand it being a piss off to some fans. But ending it for you? You'd just stop being a rams fan because they're in a different division and conference? Come on man, they would still be in the same city. A real rams fan wouldn't give up on a team because the NFL decides to change things up. The rams organization would have no control over that.

 

[bluecoconuts]

Pass, breaking up too many rivalries. It's 2015, these guys are flying around in luxury airlines for a few hours, they're fine.

 

[Ram Quixote]

This guy is just pissing all over the traditional rivalries. What's the problem with keeping the NFC North intact? For that matter, I think you must have at least 2 teams on the left coast for both the NFC and AFC West. The traditional/geographical rivals like SF and OAK should not be in the same division, just as the Jets and Giants should not. Teams in the same state, like KC and STL, PIT and PHI, MIA, JAX and TB; teams so geographically close like BAL and WASH, should not be in the same division either. Of course, we'd still have CLE and CIN in the same division, and OAK and SD in the same division, but those are traditional rivalries.

The only alignment change I would make would be to shift BAL from the AFC North to the South, and replace them with IND.

 

[Leuzer]

Someone had this idea a while back on this site and instead of sticking with the NFC and AFC, they only have division names like "The Sun Belt" or "The Northeastern Division".
Again, I didn't come up with this idea, but I like it a lot better then having to move NFC teams to the AFC and vice-versa.

 

[ramsince62]

I can understand it being a pee pee off to some fans. But ending it for you? You'd just stop being a rams fan because they're in a different division and conference? Come on man, they would still be in the same city. A real rams fan wouldn't give up on a team because the NFL decides to change things up. The rams organization would have no control over that.

First, it goes much deeper than that. Second, while I know that your comments are well intended, after 53 years as a Rams fan, I believe entitles me as to both my opinion and not being 2nd guessed by you as to what a "real Rams fan" is or is not.

For starters, you might wish to go back in history as to what made up the NFL originally, when teams played a 12 game schedule in the 40's and 50's, followed by team expansion and realignment, then the development and history of the AFC, followed by the forming of 2 conferences and the growing pains that ensued. You might also take the time to watch a 100 or so original games from the early era of the AFC and the competition or lack there of to better appreciate their brief history.

Following all that, you might better appreciate what the Rams are really all about, where they came from, how they got there and how they represent both the old and the new NFC....maybe then you'll understand why I said what I did.

It would not be about me abandoning them, it would be about them abandoning me and all they stood and stand for since the early beginning....there's just too much history and heritage there (I believe), for them to EVER become an AFC team under any circumstance...It isn't about geography, it's about the conference and the competition. It's about history, it's about continuity like with the Bears, Lions, Giants, Skins, Eagles, etc., and the history between them, for decades and decades and decades. Not teams like the Jets, Jaguars, Dolphins or Panthers to name but a few.

 

[Rynie]

You definitely can't take us out of the NFCE. Tears of eagles fans are my fountain of youth.

 

[FRO]

I propose this every year, but not many like it, get rid of divisions. We have had 2 teams with losing records make the playoffs in the last 5 years. That shouldn't happen. So just have the NFC and the AFC. Everybody plays everybody in the NFC once and same with the AFC. Alternate home and road games year after year. Each team will have a cross conference rival they play once a year. This plan evens up the schedule and it would eliminate below .500 teams from making the playoffs.