silvermike Posted April 27, 2008 Share Posted April 27, 2008 Every year, we eagerly turn our attention to UDFAs - guys who miss out on being drafted for some minor injury over an equally marginal player. However, every year, most teams have one or two UDFAs that make the roster, and across the league, there are always a few who have really distinguished themselves. The question is - why do we cut the draft off so early? There's clearly NFL talent still out there; why not have an 8th round? Or a 9th? There's enough competition for these guys that some get signing bonuses and in rare cases, pre-camp trades. What are the arguments against an 8th round? Boredom? You don't have to watch it, and hell, ESPN doesn't have to show it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Hindsight Posted April 27, 2008 Share Posted April 27, 2008 Every year, we eagerly turn our attention to UDFAs - guys who miss out on being drafted for some minor injury over an equally marginal player. However, every year, most teams have one or two UDFAs that make the roster, and across the league, there are always a few who have really distinguished themselves. The question is - why do we cut the draft off so early? There's clearly NFL talent still out there; why not have an 8th round? Or a 9th? There's enough competition for these guys that some get signing bonuses and in rare cases, pre-camp trades. What are the arguments against an 8th round? Boredom? You don't have to watch it, and hell, ESPN doesn't have to show it. there is only 53 spots on a team. 7th rounders can make the team but most of the time they are camp fodder. See CJ Ahh Hoo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Posted April 27, 2008 Share Posted April 27, 2008 It probably is the players union. Players that did not get drafted have the freedom to sign with any team they wish. They can pick the team, the city, the system, or where they are most likely to make the roster. They have more freedom and possibly will earn a better contract then those who were drafted in the 7th round. And I am not sure I could take the negativity of another 5 rounds Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DE Bills Fan Posted April 28, 2008 Share Posted April 28, 2008 It probably is the players union. Players that did not get drafted have the freedom to sign with any team they wish. They can pick the team, the city, the system, or where they are most likely to make the roster. They have more freedom and possibly will earn a better contract then those who were drafted in the 7th round. And I am not sure I could take the negativity of another 5 rounds The Players union said it was unfair to have a 17 round draft as it used to be, so it was changed a while ago to 7 rounds Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KD in CA Posted April 28, 2008 Share Posted April 28, 2008 I think it makes sense as it is. The odds of an 8th or 9th round player making the team are the same as an UDFA. Might as well give those underdogs the chance to go to the team they choose, where they think they have the best shot. Every team had 7+ chances at every one of those guys so it's fair game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasoninMT Posted April 28, 2008 Share Posted April 28, 2008 7 rounds is enough imho... and I wouldn't reduce it to 6... One statistic I heard that amazed me from last season... there are 5 players drafted last year who are currently NFL unemployed... all the other players are either on active rosters or practice squads... that's pretty telling. Now that the Practice squads have been enlarged, more of the draft players are able to stick w/ a team. In a bad draft year like this one (according to the "experts"), you could say the 7th round was mostly UDFA material... When the league starts having a LOT of UDFA "stars" - then we'll hear talk of adding another draft round... but I don't think that'll happen. In the old days of huge drafts - we didn't have 32 teams (weren't there only 26 when they moved to 7 rounds?) We also didn't have Free Agency... Last point - I was thinking about the draft this weekend, it's really surreal the way people pay attention to the NFL draft... it just goes to show how much people love the NFL more than the other leagues... I bet less than 10% of the people who talk about or pay attention to the NFL draft in terms of numbers give a crap about all the other sports drafts... I couldn't even tell you how many rounds there are in their drafts (NBA, NHL, and MLB)... I love the Sabres, but I don't know the first thing about their drafts and I don't think many people do outside of the organizations... the Media certainly doesn't spend the time and ink on the other drafts the way they do for the NFL... we have people who make their money REPORTING on the NFL Draft all year (Kiper & McShay are just the famous 2). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nucci Posted April 29, 2008 Share Posted April 29, 2008 It probably is the players union. Players that did not get drafted have the freedom to sign with any team they wish. They can pick the team, the city, the system, or where they are most likely to make the roster. They have more freedom and possibly will earn a better contract then those who were drafted in the 7th round. And I am not sure I could take the negativity of another 5 rounds That's exactly correct. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Hindsight Posted April 29, 2008 Share Posted April 29, 2008 Every year, we eagerly turn our attention to UDFAs - guys who miss out on being drafted for some minor injury over an equally marginal player. However, every year, most teams have one or two UDFAs that make the roster, and across the league, there are always a few who have really distinguished themselves. The question is - why do we cut the draft off so early? There's clearly NFL talent still out there; why not have an 8th round? Or a 9th? There's enough competition for these guys that some get signing bonuses and in rare cases, pre-camp trades. What are the arguments against an 8th round? Boredom? You don't have to watch it, and hell, ESPN doesn't have to show it. There are 32 compensatry draft picks in this draft. That is a whole extra round Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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