Huge draft Alteration!

[Skkorpion]

The NFL this morning established March 1 as the deadline for high school players and college underclassmen to declare for the draft this year.

Without enough time to fight the Clarett draft decision for the 2004 draft, the NFL has espoused the obvious and will make the best of a bad situation.

Depending on who comes out early, the entire draft order could be altered. Teams with high 2nd and 3rd round picks may get first round talent in rounds 2 and 3. Marginal NFL prospects who are seniors will now be undrafted free agents rather than 7th round picks.

Off the top of my head, Junior DE Justin Tuck of Notre Dame, if he came out, would vault to the top of the DE list.

These next few weeks will be interesting. I'm going to try to get an interview with Rod Graves about this whole mess and I'll publish his opinions here.

 

[spanky1]

Originally posted by Skkorpion
The NFL this morning established March 1 as the deadline for high school plyers and college underclassmen to declare for the draft this year.

Without enough time to fight the Claret draft decision for the 2004 draft, the NFL has espoused the obvious and will make the best of a bad situation.

Depending on who comes out early, the entire draft order could be altered. Teams with high 2nd and 3rd round picks may get first round talent in rounds 2 and 3. Marginal NFL prospects who are seniors will now be undafted free agents rather than 7th round picks.

Off the top of my head, Junior DE Justin Tuck of Notre Dame, if he came out, would vault to the top of the DE list.

These next few weeks will be interesting. I'm going to try to get an interview with Rod Graves about this whole mess and I'll publish his opinions here.

Skkorp,

My understanding is that if you were a junior and did not declare already, this apparent "window" is still closed to you. This "reprieve" is only for those players who are either freshmen or sophmores and who could not previously declare because of the former rules prior to what will now be known as the "Clarett rule"

 

[vikesfan]

Are you serious? I can't believe they don't want to fight it some more. Or declare Clarett a one off thing.

New England just hit the motherlode.

Trading down seems even more appealing now. The more picks you have the more talent you can garner.

 

[azdad1978]

If what skorrp reports are true then this year is the best time to trade down and stockpile picks. But with so much talent the question is who wants to tade up?

 

[vikesfan]

Originally posted by azdad1978
If what skorrp reports are true then this year is the best time to trade down and stockpile picks. But with so much talent the question is who wants to tade up?

Who wants to trade up? Only someone who wants a Franchise QB with can't miss written all over him - Ben or Eli. And the Cards might be in position to make that trade with them.

 

[SECTION 11]

I don't think the pool of underclass talent is going to be too tremendous. There will be a couple of players, but I think the overall impact this year will be minimal.

 

[azdad1978]

Originally posted by vikesfan
Who wants to trade up? Only someone who wants a Franchise QB with can't miss written all over him - Ben or Eli. And the Cards might be in position to make that trade with them.

The Cards can always trade down with the Pits if they don't get Henson. But Henson is the Wildcard here, esp if he goes back to the draft.

 

[spanky1]

Originally posted by azdad1978
If what skorrp reports are true then this year is the best time to trade down and stockpile picks. But with so much talent the question is who wants to tade up?

Again, this window is ONLY for those freshmen and sophmores who could not previously declare because of the old rules. The NFL is going to appeal this ruling and if successful, this will turn out to be a one time phenomena. If you were a junior and didn't declare by the former deadline of Jan 15th, and you are having second thoughts, you are SOL.

So who benefits should they decide to take advantage of this.........only a very small handful of exceptional athelete's like a Mark Wiliams. This will not have much of an impact this year but it will if the NFL are ultimately unsuccessful in their appeal.

 

[vikesfan]

If the NFL is successful this will never happen again. If there was ever a year to have extra picks in the draft this is the year.

Also since this is the first year this is the year there will be the most backloaded talent.


Plus if I was one of those other players that are not elgible and I want to go in now and they won't let me I would go to court! You can't have 2 sets of rules. If you change the rules for 1 group then it must apply to all groups. Players might want to go in npw afraid of being drafted in future years at lower positions. I think they have a good case.

 

[Skkorpion]

Re: Re: Huge draft Alteration!

Originally posted by spanky1
Skkorp,

My understanding is that if you were a junior and did not declare already, this apparent "window" is still closed to you. This "reprieve" is only for those players who are either freshmen or sophmores and who could not previously declare because of the former rules prior to what will now be known as the "Clarett rule"

Spanky, you are correct in theory but not in practice IMO. Any junior can now claim he didn't know the NFL was going to change the rules midstream.

The NFL has botched this so badly, I doubt they would contest any late-declaring junior. Hell, it took them a month to figure out how to make Larry FitzGerald available and then the reasoning they used was a real stretch.

 

[Dback Jon]

This only will apply if the NFL can't get a stay or appeal. Someone who was previously eligible (i.e. a junior) would have no legal leg to stand on to try to apply.

Also - how will the NCAA react? Say a sophomore declares for the draft, gets an agent, etc, then a week before the draft the NFL wins an appeal or gets a stay. Is that sophomore screwed? I don't think I would apply for the draft until all questions are answered.

 

[Skkorpion]

Originally posted by vikesfan
If the NFL is successful this will never happen again. If there was ever a year to have extra picks in the draft this is the year.

Also since this is the first year this is the year there will be the most backloaded talent.


Plus if I was one of those other players that are not elgible and I want to go in now and they won't let me I would go to court! You can't have 2 sets of rules. If you change the rules for 1 group then it must apply to all groups. Players might want to go in npw afraid of being drafted in future years at lower positions. I think they have a good case.

Absolutely right. I concur. Unlike Section 11, I foresee a stampeed of early declarations, especially from the academic joke football factories.

 

[Skkorpion]

Originally posted by Dback Jon
This only will apply if the NFL can't get a stay or appeal. Someone who was previously eligible (i.e. a junior) would have no legal leg to stand on to try to apply.

Also - how will the NCAA react? Say a sophomore declares for the draft, gets an agent, etc, then a week before the draft the NFL wins an appeal or gets a stay. Is that sophomore screwed? I don't think I would apply for the draft until all questions are answered.

Dback Jon, you're not on target here.

Two things:
1. The appeal won't be heard until long after this draft is over, which is why the NFL capitulated;
2. The NCAA doesn't have a leg to stand on because every school only issuess one year scholarships, renewable at the school's discretion. At the end of the spring semester, not one single scholarship football player is contractually bound to his school. The schools have always screwed the athletes by not awarding them 4 or 5 year scholarships and now they will pay the piper for their selfishness and callousness.

 

[spanky1]

Re: Re: Re: Huge draft Alteration!

Originally posted by Skkorpion
Spanky, you are correct in theory but not in practice IMO. Any junior can now claim he didn't know the NFL was going to change the rules midstream.

The NFL has botched this so badly, I doubt they would contest any late-declaring junior. Hell, it took them a month to figure out how to make Larry FitzGerald available and then the reasoning they used was a real stretch.

Skkorp,

With all due respect, I am correct. The NFL has already commented on this.

 

[Stout]

WOW!!! I didn't think the NFL would do something like this. Big surprise, IMO.

What everybody's missing is that the NFL is now allowing HIGH SCHOOLERS to enter the draft. WOW!!! Never thought I'd hear that!!!

Now, I'm wondering if some stupid phenom HS kid is going to declare. Then, I'd wonder if some idiotic GM would draft the kid. What a wacky deal this is!!!

 

[Dback Jon]

Originally posted by Skkorpion
Dback Jon, you're not on target here.

Two things:
1. The appeal won't be heard until long after this draft is over, which is why the NFL capitulated;
2. The NCAA doesn't have a leg to stand on because every school only issuess one year scholarships, renewable at the school's discretion. At the end of the spring semester, not one single scholarship football player is contractually bound to his school. The schools have always screwed the athletes by not awarding them 4 or 5 year scholarships and now they will pay the piper for their selfishness and callousness.

They are asking for a stay from the judge, and also asking for a speedy appeal. They may get one, both or neither (I would bet both), but there is a chance the ruling will not be in affect for this draft.
The NCAA has rules for early NBA entrants, and MLB draftees - why would they not have rules for the NFL? In both cases, getting an agent is a no-no, but this situation has not occured - the possibility of declaring for the draft, then being unable to be drafted. And while a player only has a one-year scholarship, he can not go to another D-IA school and play the next year.

 

[Pariah]

I hope the Cardinals stick with Jr.s and Sr.s and forgo any younger kids with the exception of possibly Mike Williams.

April should be a blast.

 

[spanky1]

For anyone who wants to read the NFL's decision and subsequent plan of attack go to www.nfl.com

It is written.....plain and simple and leaves no room for interpretation!

 

[spanky1]

Originally posted by Pariah
I hope the Cardinals stick with Jr.s and Sr.s and forgo any younger kids with the exception of possibly Mike Williams.

April should be a blast.

He is really the only one that really benefits from this.....IMHO, he'd go #1 in the draft........and there isn't any team in the league that wouldn't try and trade up to get him. I've heard that he'll stay at USC for his junior year however.......why I don't know.

 

[vikesfan]

The NFL is overrated as an organization. Look at the refs situation. They like to come on like they are great they aren't. They have a great product. But whenever they try and do something it turns out to be a mess. Celebrations, amateur referees, instant replay, fining then unfining Kitna for not wearing official NFL cap after a game. The NFL is a joke. The Fitz thing was like you said a silly stretch. Now they have escalated this Clarett thing. All they had to do with Clarett was make up some BS like they did with Fitz and declare him a one off - avoid the courts. Their fining of players every week. They don't have a clue.

If I am a Junior I would be going to court on Monday.

 

[spanky1]

If I'm a junior, I'm going to court on Monday???????????

Why?

 

[Skkorpion]

Spanky and D'bakjon, you put your faith in the NFL, an organization which has been repeatedly throttled in the courts for 25 years?

I don't. Frankly, the NFL doesn't have a legal leg to stand on in this case IMO. And the judge isn't going to bend over backward and give an early hearing to an arrogant monopoly.

In the long run, not only will the NFL lose, the sport, the NFL, and the NCAA will be better off for it.

The Miami sophomores and Oklahoma freshman with 470 SATs and Wonderlic scores of 8 will be in the NFL. College football won't be dominated by 4 or 5 factories, and those few players ready for the NFL at an early age will be free to earn a legitimate living.

Everybody wins.

And thanks, Spanky for the link to the NFL's position statement.

 

[Dback Jon]

Skkorp - not putting my faith in the NFL, just pointing out that there is a possibility that this could be overturned/stayed, and a player should be careful before declaring and getting an agent - and not put blind faith in either having the ruling stand, or, if the ruling is overturned, counting on the NCAA to welcome them back with open arms.

As for Juniors, this ruling does not affect them. This ruling only affects those who previously did not have access to the draft. A Junior did have access to the draft, and if he did not declare, it was not the NFL who restricted him. An organization CAN lay down qualifications/deadlines, etc, as long as it gives equal access to all. This ruling only affects those who did not have equal access.

 

[ajcardfan]

Really, the only surprising part of this is that it took this long for the NFL policy to be challenged in court.

 

[Northern Card]

FROM NFL DRAFT BLITZ

Clarett Changes The Draft Forever

The judge presiding over the Maurice Clarett case ruled today that the NFL's rule precluding players who have not yet been out of high school for three years to be a violation of antitrust laws. He will be allowed into this year's NFL draft. For now on, any player 18 years of age or older will be eligible to declare for the draft. This ruling may be appealed by the NFL, but there is essentially no chance of having the ruling overturned.