Order of Draft and Free Agency

[Ed_Formerly_of_Roch]

Often wondered, would the NFL be better off copying the NBA setup and have the draft prior to FA season?

 

Looking at the Bills roster, if Beane had known he was drafting Groot and Basham first two rounds, would he have redone Addison's contract? Or Butler?

 

Drafting three O lineman after also resigning Mongo and Williams made it hard to acquire much quality depth for O line.  Brown and Doyle were both picked high enough, couldn't likely risk cutting either so kept them both  plus five starters.  Throw in Bates for versatility you already have 8 guys, that only leaves room for one more player likely to be an inside guy.  Fortunately for the Bills they were able to move Williams inside, otherwise would really be a mess.

 

In both these examples, having draft first would allow teams to make better FA choices?

 

Admittedly would likely be harder to do in the NFL due to scheduling but I'm sure could be worked out.  Combine early February, draft mid March, FA starts early April.  Not sure NFLPA would ever go for this because of reasons I mentioned that it would solve, could instead result in free agents without a job or at best a lower paid one.

[cle23]

The NFLPA doesn't want it after the draft, especially now with the slotted draft positions.  FA players land bigger contracts when there is the unknown of who will be available in the draft. 

[Rc2catch]

We had the same issue years ago when we signed Kroft, we overpaid knowing his injury history cause Beane wanted to make sure we had a tight end with potential to break out. Then we snagged Knox and Sweeney and never needed to pay Kroft that kinda money.