NFL trying to move the 2014 draft to May

[bluecoconuts]

NFL working on deal to move 2014 NFL Draft to May
By Gregg Rosenthal
Around The League Editor
Published: May 20, 2013 at 02:48 p.m. Updated: May 20, 2013 at 03:15 p.m

The NFL's effort to change its offseason calendar is starting to make some progress.

NFL.com's Albert Breer reported Monday that the NFL and NFL Players Association are working toward a deal to move the 2014 NFL Draft to May. It likely would start as a one-year trial before deciding if the May move makes sense. NFL.com's Ian Rapoport reported that the likely target start date for the 2014 draft is May 15.

Pushing the draft back to May is something Breer reported weeks ago. But it's probably happening in 2014 because of a scheduling snafu. The Radio City Rockettes show "The Spring Spectacular" is scheduled to be held at Radio City Music Hall in late April, when the draft usually is held.

"We're actually getting bumped by the Easter Bunny. They're going to have an Easter show. We'll be prepared for that," NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell previously said on "The Rich Eisen Podcast."

Rapoport reported that everything else on the NFL calendar probably would stay the same in 2014 at this stage. No other league calendar changes are yet agreed upon or imminent.

"None of that has been decided," NFL spokesman Greg Aiello told Around The League in an email Monday.

The league also has considered moving the date of the NFL Scouting Combine and the start of the league year.

Breer reported that Goodell and NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith still have not met to have serious discussions on moving the draft. Breer pointed out, though, that NFL can move events like the draft without union approval, but it cannot change the start of the league year.

Follow Gregg Rosenthal on Twitter @greggrosenthal.


<a class="postlink" href="http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap1000000204701/article/nfl-working-on-deal-to-move-2014-nfl-draft-to-may" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap100000 ... aft-to-may</a>


Essentially the NFL wants to have the Combine in March, Free Agency start in April, and the Draft in May.

My thoughts? Draft all the way in May? And likely the end of May? I don't like it, too much time away from football.

 

[A55VA6]

I don't like it. At all.

 

[Memento]

Roger Goodell just keeps finding new and creative ways to ruin the NFL. In other news, the sky is blue, water is wet, fire is hot, and the St. Louis Cardinals are the most successful National League franchise in baseball.

:roll:

 

[nighttrain]

Roger Goodell just keeps finding new and creative ways to ruin the NFL. In other news, the sky is blue, water is wet, fire is hot, and the St. Louis Cardinals are the most successful National League franchise in baseball.

:roll:

ehhhhhhhhhh, mr. goodbar is trying his best to ruin the fan experience..
train

 

[CGI_Ram]

Yeah, I can't find anything to like about this idea either.

Goodell must love pissing fans off or something.

 

[Angry Ram]

What I don't get why this trying to change it all. What benefit does it serve to anyone? It's ridiculous just keep things the way they are!

 

[Ram Quixote]

Oh, sure Roger. Let's make the rookies' transition to the NFL that much harder. While you're at it, condense OTAs to 2 weeks and TC to 1 week. :roll:

 

[CGI_Ram]

Oh, sure Roger. Let's make the rookies' transition to the NFL that much harder. While you're at it, condense OTAs to 2 weeks and TC to 1 week. :roll:

No doubt.

He's such a phony. Speaks to player safety... then adds a bunch of Thursday games to the schedule.

smh

 

[CGI_Ram]

Peter King is NOT a fan of the idea. Good piece:

BOSTON -- I've been trying to find reasons to justify the NFL pushing back the draft by a whopping three weeks next season, to Mother's Day weekend, May 15-17. I can't find one. I'm not alone.

Talked to one personnel czar last night on the phone. "Hate it. Absolutely hate it.'' Saw one owner at dinner last night, and he said (sarcastically) his GM "would just love this ... more time to obsess on final decisions he made a month ago."

The NFL will say if the change is made -- and it's all but done, and could be approved at the meetings here today -- it's because Radio City Music Hall isn't available next year on the last long weekend of April. I live in New York City. There are other venues. Lots of them. It's ridiculous to trot out that excuse. To say the league couldn't find another place at Madison Square Garden or the Barclays Center in Brooklyn or any one of a score of other options in New York is insulting to the intelligence of any thinking person. Say what it is: three more weeks to hype the most ridiculously overhyped event on the NFL calendar. Three more weeks for spring-programming-starved NFL Network to be relevant. And less time for NFL coaches, GMs, scouts and coaching staffs to be human beings and have family lives.

I was a naysayer at first on the league moving the first round to Thursday, with Rounds 2 and 3 on Friday. But I get that now. I actually like it. You get to digest the big round before moving on to the next two. But three more hype weeks? Three more weeks of mock drafts and guesswork? Three more weeks of 64 draft analysts breaking down tape? Lord save us.

The upshot will likely be the elimination of rookie minicamps for many teams. In this age of more and more rookies playing opening day, that's like taking away Spanish 101 and moving right into the second year of it; catch up if you can, rookie. The league will be cutting the number of weeks between the draft and the opening weekend of the season from 19 to 16. It's another way to sacrifice quality to keep the NFL on the front pages longer.

Another factor: Teams will have three more weeks to work out players. Teams aren't going to go into caves and just watch more tape -- they're going to work players out more. Say there's a top-50 prospect rehabbing from injury next year, a player who couldn't work out at the Combine. Now, instead of 12 teams going to work him out individually, maybe 20 will. The rehabber, trying to put his best foot forward day after day, could get hurt exerting himself over and over, day after day, over six or seven weeks.

No one empathizes with NFL employees and their time off. Nor should they. But this is a tradeoff of more hype for less time off, make no mistake about it. Do you honestly think organizations will now say to their staffs, "Take two weeks off in February to make up for extra time in June you'll have to work now?'' No -- not with free-agency tape to study and with college-prospect prep beginning.

The larger question, really, is this: How much hype is enough? How big does the league need the golden goose to get?

Silly question. We see it answered every day by an insatiable league.


Read More: <a class="postlink" href="http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/nfl/news/20130521/nfl-draft-move/#ixzz2Ty7xYCcZ" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/nfl/ne ... z2Ty7xYCcZ</a>

 

[Ramrocket]

Absolutely NOT a fan of this.

Over the past 8 seasons or so, the draft started becoming an important event for me sometime around October. We were generally out of contention by then so my thoughts would turn to the draft in the hope that it would fix the ills of my favorite team and I could start dreaming about who we would take and how much they would benefit our team.

Now granted, this year that won't be so much of an issue with our Rams slaying all before them on a march to the playoffs but we do still have 2 picks in the 1st next year that will only add to the talent on the team. Another 3 weeks will seem like an eternity. The football season will actually finally be well balanced out for Rams fans as playoff action will roll nicely into free agency and the draft rather than having to wait what seems like an eternity when we are absent from the field post December.

(A lot of homerism in this post but if we can't be positive at this stage of the season.....)

 

[bluecoconuts]

I live in New York City. There are other venues. Lots of them. It's ridiculous to trot out that excuse. To say the league couldn't find another place at Madison Square Garden or the Barclays Center in Brooklyn or any one of a score of other options in New York is insulting to the intelligence of any thinking person.

They could also just change venues every year, like the NHL does... NBA has changed a few times, but usually keep it in the same New York area. It wouldn't be too hard, spreads the wealth around a little bit as well.

 

[ReddingRam]

I absolutely hate this. I was not a fan of it starting on Thurs. night either. The NFL is getting greedy. And with greed, they can end up ruining their product if they aren't careful..

 

[CGI_Ram]

I absolutely hate this. I was not a fan of it starting on Thurs. night either. The NFL is getting greedy. And with greed, they can end up ruining their product if they aren't careful..

I love the NFL, obviously, but I can't stand what Goodell is doing. It pisses me off, actually.