Intriguing Proposal

The reason relegation works in soccer is that the difference the best of the 2nd division and the worst of the first division isn’t so great.

The difference between USFL and the NFL is currently too vast.

Contractual obligations for the owners of NFL franchises? I would imagine it's not so easy to be included/excluded from that group with all that it entails.
Player contracts. Provisions would have to be made to allow players to be traded between leagues. Players would not have incentive to play in lower leagues.
Additionally, being outside the NFL means being outside the draft. The USFL access to new talent is limited.

Those a few thoughts off the top of my head.

I'd rather see the NFL scrap the divisional system and have teams with the best overall conference position go through, rather than favouring teams in weak divisions and punishing teams in strong division. I'm all for a strong adherence to the idea of a level playing field.

On top of that, I'd change cap requirements to give more flexibility to teams who trade away players or who lose players to injury. In the interested of maximising competition I'd allow teams to pay contracts off the cap for players who are unable to contribute on the field thus allowing teams to use all their cap for their on field product.

Personally, I'd love it if the NFL had a farm system similar to baseball. We'd only have one extra level instead of baseball's three, and teams would own both the minor and major league so they could move players back and forth. Essentially, it would be an expanded practice squad roster of maybe 30-40 players and they'd all be protected. They could also throw in a rule that to be on the minor league squad, you have to be under 26 year of age (or maybe make it simpler by saying your first four years in the league at any age).

How I'd run it, the practice squad team plays May to August in maybe 8 games plus playoffs- and I'd have every team in the playoffs single elimination. They earn $100k a year for their season plus they're eligible to practice with the pros (as the existing practice squad) for an additional salary. They can also be moved up/down as needed.

This would accomplish three things-

1) It gives us 4 more months of meaningful football since these are future league players.
2) It gives us a real practice squad that's protected and open to b-level trades. So someone like Iggy can start year one and get 4-5 meaningful years playing. It lets teams develop viable backups that can be called up when needed, for instance, a Sinnett at QB.
3) Since project players aren't on the active roster anymore, all teams have a stronger roster.

would be really interesting for sure

"The_Dark_Knight wrote:

I was at Epcot yesterday and while waiting to see MercyMe at the American Garden Rocks pavilion, I struck up a conversation with someone from the Cleveland area. We started talking football (the fan base there is t happy about the Watson trade…but that’s another discussion) but in the course of our conversation, he brought up an interesting proposal that he heard floated up there…

The USFL… have the championship USFL team play the NFL team with the worst record; the winner is admitted to the NFL and the loser is kicked out, to the USFL.

I thought it was an intriguing idea…give motivation to both teams…one to make it to the big stage…and one to step up to stay on the big stage.

Thoughts?

The Dark Knight went to see MercyMe?

"dolphin25 wrote:

The Dark Knight went to see MercyMe?

Batman needs Jesus too.

I doubt you'll ever see a form of relegation in the NFL. It would require partnership from both leagues which may or may not be easy; but the bigger stumbling block here would be approval from the owners. As the team being relegated what happens to your share of income from the revenue sharing re: tv contracts etc? I doubt any owner would willing approve something like this knowing that if they had a bad year, or lost that relegation game that they'd be out of the NFL and all the income that comes with it. I just don't see them ever signing off on something like that. You would likely have to lump the USFL teams into that revenue sharing picture in some way for something like this to work; but NFL owners willingly giving up a slice of their pie performance based or not? I highly doubt it will ever happen.

"dolphin25 wrote:

The Dark Knight went to see MercyMe?

Curious why that’s so surprising

"KeyFin wrote:

Personally, I'd love it if the NFL had a farm system similar to baseball. We'd only have one extra level instead of baseball's three, and teams would own both the minor and major league so they could move players back and forth. Essentially, it would be an expanded practice squad roster of maybe 30-40 players and they'd all be protected. They could also throw in a rule that to be on the minor league squad, you have to be under 26 year of age (or maybe make it simpler by saying your first four years in the league at any age).

How I'd run it, the practice squad team plays May to August in maybe 8 games plus playoffs- and I'd have every team in the playoffs single elimination. They earn $100k a year for their season plus they're eligible to practice with the pros (as the existing practice squad) for an additional salary. They can also be moved up/down as needed.

This would accomplish three things-

1) It gives us 4 more months of meaningful football since these are future league players.
2) It gives us a real practice squad that's protected and open to b-level trades. So someone like Iggy can start year one and get 4-5 meaningful years playing. It lets teams develop viable backups that can be called up when needed, for instance, a Sinnett at QB.
3) Since project players aren't on the active roster anymore, all teams have a stronger roster.

I think that this is the reason why a lot of mid/late round QBs never develop. These guys are in either one of two categories - #1 - Drafted early or skilled enough to be put on the field #2 - Not skilled enough to put on the field.

The only time these guys can really show what they have is in the preseason. Once a starter is established, he is going to get most of the first team reps in practice. I think a QB can get better learning on the sideline, but only so much better. Essentially, these guys need to magically jump from one offseason to the next.

If you look at a guy like Skylar Thompson, he will most likely get cut and get resigned to play on the practice squad. After a year or so, he will be off the team, and a new guy will likely be in the same position.

Consider the "best case scenario" for Thompson. He makes the team and never dresses and never plays.

I really think that it would be in everyone's best interests for Thompson to play in some sort of developmental league with an affiliation with the Dolphins. I think that this league would be somewhat different than minor league baseball because the focus would be more about learning a watered down version of the playbook rather than winning. The goal would be to "win using the playbook."

I think that there a ton of guys that could develop or possibly be traded to another team where they could have a true backup job.

"tirty8 wrote:

I think that this is the reason why a lot of mid/late round QBs never develop. These guys are in either one of two categories - #1 - Drafted early or skilled enough to be put on the field #2 - Not skilled enough to put on the field.

The only time these guys can really show what they have is in the preseason. Once a starter is established, he is going to get most of the first team reps in practice. I think a QB can get better learning on the sideline, but only so much better. Essentially, these guys need to magically jump from one offseason to the next.

If you look at a guy like Skylar Thompson, he will most likely get cut and get resigned to play on the practice squad. After a year or so, he will be off the team, and a new guy will likely be in the same position.

Consider the "best case scenario" for Thompson. He makes the team and never dresses and never plays.

I really think that it would be in everyone's best interests for Thompson to play in some sort of developmental league with an affiliation with the Dolphins. I think that this league would be somewhat different than minor league baseball because the focus would be more about learning a watered down version of the playbook rather than winning. The goal would be to "win using the playbook."

I think that there a ton of guys that could develop or possibly be traded to another team where they could have a true backup job.

I always thought that promoting themselves as a development league was the best chance that the XFL had of surviving.

"KeyFin wrote:

Personally, I'd love it if the NFL had a farm system similar to baseball. We'd only have one extra level instead of baseball's three, and teams would own both the minor and major league so they could move players back and forth. Essentially, it would be an expanded practice squad roster of maybe 30-40 players and they'd all be protected. They could also throw in a rule that to be on the minor league squad, you have to be under 26 year of age (or maybe make it simpler by saying your first four years in the league at any age).

How I'd run it, the practice squad team plays May to August in maybe 8 games plus playoffs- and I'd have every team in the playoffs single elimination. They earn $100k a year for their season plus they're eligible to practice with the pros (as the existing practice squad) for an additional salary. They can also be moved up/down as needed.

This would accomplish three things-

1) It gives us 4 more months of meaningful football since these are future league players.
2) It gives us a real practice squad that's protected and open to b-level trades. So someone like Iggy can start year one and get 4-5 meaningful years playing. It lets teams develop viable backups that can be called up when needed, for instance, a Sinnett at QB.
3) Since project players aren't on the active roster anymore, all teams have a stronger roster.

They tried that, or something similar with NFL Europe.
While I think it’s a good idea, there is an awful lot of money that goes into making a workable version.

"Pauly wrote:

The reason relegation works in soccer is that the difference the best of the 2nd division and the worst of the first division isn’t so great.

The difference between USFL and the NFL is currently too vast.

Consider: The NFL currently has 32 teams with ~90 players on their rosters. Not considering practice squads, each team will cut 37 players, so there will be 1,184 players not on active NFL rosters who are likely as good as or better than the top level talent in the USFL.

This is a very gross generalization, of course, but you get the point. The worst NFL team is much better than the best USFL squad. Back in the first iteration of the USFL, this might have been a good proposal. The USFL was buying great talent (Herschel Walker, Jim Kelly, Steve Young, Kelvin Bryant) and watering down the talent in the NFL. The new league is interesting to watch because the talent is relatively equal among each team and the players were actually all good or great in college. But there's no comparison between the two leagues from a talent standpoint.

"tirty8 wrote:

I think that this is the reason why a lot of mid/late round QBs never develop. These guys are in either one of two categories - #1 - Drafted early or skilled enough to be put on the field #2 - Not skilled enough to put on the field.

The only time these guys can really show what they have is in the preseason. Once a starter is established, he is going to get most of the first team reps in practice. I think a QB can get better learning on the sideline, but only so much better. Essentially, these guys need to magically jump from one offseason to the next.

If you look at a guy like Skylar Thompson, he will most likely get cut and get resigned to play on the practice squad. After a year or so, he will be off the team, and a new guy will likely be in the same position.

Consider the "best case scenario" for Thompson. He makes the team and never dresses and never plays.

I really think that it would be in everyone's best interests for Thompson to play in some sort of developmental league with an affiliation with the Dolphins. I think that this league would be somewhat different than minor league baseball because the focus would be more about learning a watered down version of the playbook rather than winning. The goal would be to "win using the playbook."

I think that there a ton of guys that could develop or possibly be traded to another team where they could have a true backup job.

Good point. Consider Reid Sinnett, who balled his *ss off in the final exhibition game last season. Easily could have developed to the point that he could have backed up Brissett when Tua was injured. Instead, Philly plucked him and he's never likely to get second-team reps. They did him a favor by picking up his contract, but I'd argue they put him in a worse situation.

Unless the uniform wears the colors and logo of our favorite teams the usfl will never work, so stupid they can’t figure it out

"The_Dark_Knight wrote:

Curious why that’s so surprising

Dark Knight seems the opposite of Christian music :)

"tirty8 wrote:

I think that this is the reason why a lot of mid/late round QBs never develop. These guys are in either one of two categories - #1 - Drafted early or skilled enough to be put on the field #2 - Not skilled enough to put on the field.

The only time these guys can really show what they have is in the preseason. Once a starter is established, he is going to get most of the first team reps in practice. I think a QB can get better learning on the sideline, but only so much better. Essentially, these guys need to magically jump from one offseason to the next.

If you look at a guy like Skylar Thompson, he will most likely get cut and get resigned to play on the practice squad. After a year or so, he will be off the team, and a new guy will likely be in the same position.

Consider the "best case scenario" for Thompson. He makes the team and never dresses and never plays.

I really think that it would be in everyone's best interests for Thompson to play in some sort of developmental league with an affiliation with the Dolphins. I think that this league would be somewhat different than minor league baseball because the focus would be more about learning a watered down version of the playbook rather than winning. The goal would be to "win using the playbook."

I think that there a ton of guys that could develop or possibly be traded to another team where they could have a true backup job.

Yep, you are dead on with this one. The second QB or 3rd really don't get any reps with the starters to see what they can actually do. Much more difficult running plays with the backups running wrong routes or not knowing the plays. I get it, but really they have a very little chance to get any growing reps.

"OwesOwn614 wrote:

Good point. Consider Reid Sinnett, who balled his *ss off in the final exhibition game last season. Easily could have developed to the point that he could have backed up Brissett when Tua was injured. Instead, Philly plucked him and he's never likely to get second-team reps. They did him a favor by picking up his contract, but I'd argue they put him in a worse situation.

Even look at Reid from his first preseason game to his last preseason game. That kid developed a ton.

"dolphin25 wrote:

Dark Knight seems the opposite of Christian music :)

Well like pic said, even Batman needs Jesus! :wink2:

"The_Dark_Knight wrote:

Well like pic said, even Batman needs Jesus! :wink2:

How was it? I've thought about seeing them in concert.

"The_Dark_Knight wrote:

I was at Epcot yesterday and while waiting to see MercyMe at the American Garden Rocks pavilion, I struck up a conversation with someone from the Cleveland area. We started talking football (the fan base there is t happy about the Watson trade…but that’s another discussion) but in the course of our conversation, he brought up an interesting proposal that he heard floated up there…

The USFL… have the championship USFL team play the NFL team with the worst record; the winner is admitted to the NFL and the loser is kicked out, to the USFL.

I thought it was an intriguing idea…give motivation to both teams…one to make it to the big stage…and one to step up to stay on the big stage.

Thoughts?

The very basic reason it can't work: 2nd division revenue won't support the relegated team's salary demands.

There are dozens of other reasons, but money is the only one needed.

This wouldn't work with free agency

Bottom two teams have to play a game, the winner gets the #1 pick. The Draft Bowl.