Feel Bad for the Undrafted Rookies and Fringe Guys

[Wes Mantooth]

Just as the title states, I feel really bad for all of the undrafted rookies entering the league this year, and for all the guys who are just fighing to get on a roster.

They've lost so many opportunites that they would normally have in a non-Covid season. Gone are OTA's, gone are minicamps, and now gone are preseason games. Even training camp has been drastically altered, and shortened. The chances of these guys being able to make an impression and earn a spot is now significantly lower.

And if all of that is not enough, you then have to consider what could or should have been viable alternatives, had they not made an NFL roster. The XFL, despite pretty decent success, folded due to their season's cancelation. That opportunity is now gone forever. The CFL's 2020 season is postponed indefinitely. The AAF went belly up. The Arena League is now too gone, having filed bancrupcy at the end of 2019.

It's bad enough these guys may not get a fair shake for a chance in the NFL, but now they no other options. What do these guys do to try to extend their careers? How do they stay sharp and in shape for next season? How do you properly train and condition to be a professional athlete working a 9-5, without access to the proper facilites and training/coaches?

I think the reality is a lot of these guys will simply be forgotten. You'll have a fresh new class of undrafted guys coming in next year, further muddying the waters. They've lost the ability to be the next Kurt Warner in the Arena League. They have nowhere to go to showcase their talents.

I think of a guy like Michael Warren from UC. He rushed for 2,594 yards and had 33 TD's in the last two seasons. He was projected as mid to late round pick. He came out early. He didn't get to everything at the combine due to an injury and was going to do more at his Pro Day. The problem is he never got to have a Pro-Day because of Covid. As a result, he then went undrafted. Now he's left to deal with the all of the above. What happens to him?

There's a lot of other guys just like him. Of all the years to enter the draft early, and you're left with this? No Pro-Day, no OTA's, no minicamp, no preseason games...nothing. It's all gone. And you've got zero alternatives to the NFL to boot.

Sucks, man. I feel for a lot of these kids. I can't imagine working most of your life for a goal and to be met with this. I'm sure going undrafted is heartbreaking and bad enough, but this is something else. It's like being completely robbed of your chance.

Will Compton, who hosts a podcast and occasionally writes for Barstool recently wrote a piece about this, that I think many of you may enjoy. For those that don't know who he is, he's a former undrafted guy that's been in the NFL since 2013. Here's his piece:

https://www.barstoolsports.com/blog/2688637/to-the-gritty-undrafted-nfl-players

[Yojimbo]

Agree, terrible time to be an undrafted free agent. A couple of silver linings. First, the PS is likely to be expanded to 16 players, with 6 of those spots having no service time restrictions, so that should help fringe vets. Second, it looks like there will be an option to bring 90 guys to camp, but the team would then have to have split squads and cut to 80 before the first padded practice. So, there's a chance a guy impresses enough in that short window to make the 80 man.

[SunsetBengal]

I think that the NFL should seriously consider hosting it's own developmental league. The NFL can get by on existing players for a season or two, before they realize a drop in overall quality of their product; But they really need to do something now, to fill the void of not having a traditional NCAA season to prepare the next class for NFL level play, before another year of injuries and retirements leave a significant void in their talent pool.

[fredtoast]

(07-26-2020, 11:10 AM)SunsetBengal Wrote: I think that the NFL should seriously consider hosting it's own developmental league. 

I think something like that is coming.

The NBA has had a developmental league for a while, but just this year a lot of top high school prospects are skipping college and going directly to the D-league.  It does not pay a lot, but they can work on their game 100% of the time instead of just the very limited hours they get to practice in college.  If the Arena Leagues really are folding (did not hear about that) then there would be a ready made market.

[Wes Mantooth]

(07-26-2020, 11:10 AM)SunsetBengal Wrote: I think that the NFL should seriously consider hosting it's own developmental league.  The NFL can get by on existing players for a season or two, before they realize a drop in overall quality of their product;  But they really need to do something now, to fill the void of not having a traditional NCAA season to prepare the next class for NFL level play, before another year of injuries and retirements leave a significant void in their talent pool.

That's a great idea!

With the number of leagues that have folded that's left a void. There is a proven market there, albeit a much smallee scale.  And the NFL would face a fraction of the start-up costs. The infrastructure is already there (Marketing, PR, Sales, Operational Staff, etc.)

If they were to attatch themselves to a "minor league" it would instantly legitimize that league in a way that no other has been. Putting the NFL stamp and connection on to it, with their backing, would be hard to ignore.  If the XFL can draw 20k+ then imagine what the NFL could do.

Start the season March 1st, and have it run  like 10 weeks total.  You now have another product to sell in the offseason.  It would end before Mini-Camp opens.

Plop franchises down in places like Boise, where they may not have a specific NFL team they follow.  If some of their favorite players make the leap to the NFL they may adopt a new team. They may eventually consume more content and may buy more merchandise.

It really seems like a no-brainer to me. 

[SunsetBengal]

(07-26-2020, 11:29 AM)fredtoast Wrote: I think something like that is coming.

The NBA has had a developmental league for a while, but just this year a lot of top high school prospects are skipping college and going directly to the D-league.  It does not pay a lot, but they can work on their game 100% of the time instead of just the very limited hours they get to practice in college.  If the Arena Leagues really are folding (did not hear about that) then there would be a ready made market.

Of the 5 major sports leagues, the NFL is the only one that does not have it's own developmental system.  MLB, NBA, NHL, and even MLS all offer developmental leagues as an alternate route to their primary league as an alternative to only having the NCAA as the only viable route to preparing players for major league competition.

The NFL has gotten by for a long time, by having CFB provide them a steady stream of pro-ready talent, all while requiring no financial investment or expenditure on their own part.  I first had this idea while watching a couple of XFL games, earlier this year.  It seems to me that the NFL could have easily absorbed a ready made league like the XFL into their umbrella.  Not only would they have expanded opportunity for player development, but also increased their already huge market share of the American sports dollar.  

[TJHoushmandzadeh's Shiny Shoes]

(07-26-2020, 11:07 AM)Yojimbo Wrote: Agree, terrible time to be an undrafted free agent. A couple of silver linings. First, the PS is likely to be expanded to 16 players, with 6 of those spots having no service time restrictions, so that should help fringe vets. Second, it looks like there will be an option to bring 90 guys to camp, but the team would then have to have split squads and cut to 80 before the first padded practice. So, there's a chance a guy impresses enough in that short window to make the 80 man.

A lot will depend on how much college football is played this year: this year's undrafted crop at least should have tape from before the pandemic. How many guys coming out this year were relying on that extra year of tape?

(07-26-2020, 11:29 AM)fredtoast Wrote: I think something like that is coming.

The NBA has had a developmental league for a while, but just this year a lot of top high school prospects are skipping college and going directly to the D-league.  It does not pay a lot, but they can work on their game 100% of the time instead of just the very limited hours they get to practice in college.  If the Arena Leagues really are folding (did not hear about that) then there would be a ready made market.

It's going to be even more of a necessity with cutting the pre-season schedule. I don't understand why there aren't just pre-season games for practice squad eligible players only. It would help immensely from a training and evaluation perspective and the NFL can make money by selling tickets and TV rights for it. With a 90 man roster there are enough roster spots. Call them the Cincinnati Bengal Cubs and market them as the next generation. You wouldn't necessarily throw Burrow in with them, but maybe Higgins, Wilson, Davis-Gaither etc would benefit from the reps, not to mention those from last year's crop of rookies who didn't see extended playing time.

[Sled21]

I don't understand why anyone would think the NFL would invest money in a developmental league when just about all of their athletes come out of college football. NCAA Football IS the NFL's developmental league.

[*Nately120*]

Yeah, but what about me?

[fredtoast]

(07-28-2020, 03:28 PM)Sled21 Wrote: I don't understand why anyone would think the NFL would invest money in a developmental league when just about all of their athletes come out of college football. NCAA Football IS the NFL's developmental league.

That is exactly what they used to say about the NBA.

A developmental league for the NFL would improve the product on the field, but I think they would have to be close to making money off of it before they would consider it.

If Arena league and XFL have folded there would be a market.  Plus I think the NFL Network would be thrilled to have something to fill the offseason.  I love the NFL network, but they do run low on interesting programming during the off season.

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

Yeah, sad stuff. It was already a short window to play, now you lose at least a year and might never get to play again.

Terribly sad.