Friday, April 9, 2010

The NFL Draft: Rewarding failure?

I'm a New York Jets fan who has suffered from lack of Super Bowl withdrawal over the course of almost decade of being an avid Jets fan, and as an avid Jets fan, the National Football League Draft is one of the most important events through out the entire year, as the best of the best will selected from colleges ranging from Maine to Hawaii, and brought to professional football teams from New England to Oakland.

I've heard criticism of the NFL Draft before and I've read about the former system of "bidding wars", however, I never thought to question the current system of professional teams selecting college football players, but that was before I became interested in politics, economics and free market Capitalism.

Now that I have reviewed the current process and I have read some articles in the past (I'm not sure, but I think Walter Williams once wrote about this), I am convinced the current system of selecting college football players is flawed, and rewards the failed organizations with excellent players.

Think about this:

There are two teams in the National Football League: One of these teams won 12 games last season and the other won 3 games last season, now common insight will tell us that the latter of two teams is in desperate need of improvement, but how should that team seek to improve themselves?

Under the current Drafting system; the unsuccessful team will receive a "top 5 draft pick" and the successful team will receive a "bottom 12 draft pick", pending on their performance during the previous playoffs. Some might consider that "balancing the playing field", but doesn't in seem wrong that the unsuccessful team is be rewarded instead of the successful team?

As a Capitalist: Rewarding failure will not lead to success. How did the American Football League turn the football powers that be on its head during the late sixties? Simple, those underfunded football teams in the underfunded football league did not beg or whine for a special draft position during the bidding wars, those teams competed for the best of the best players and those teams won their respect on the field.

Has anyone received more "top 5 draft picks" than the Detroit Lions over the past decade? Nope and what has been the result: Failure, Failure, Failure, Failure. Just ask Conservative columnist Doug Powers, he'll lecture you on a regular basis on the Failure, Failure, Failure, Failure of the Detroit Lions. Now I want everyone to ponder the New England Patriots, the team that I love to hate.

How did the Patriots win several Super Bowls? The Patriots drafted Tom Brady, a Michigan QB towards the end of the 2000 NFL Draft (199th pick in the sixth round to be exact) and with some bad luck with their previous Quarter Back (injured during Playoffs), Brady stepped in and kicked ass during the famed Super Bowl 36.

The Patriots didn't need a "top 5 draft pick" to win-it-all, they needed a "top 5 football player" during the sixth round of the NFL Draft, which should serve as inspiration to all other struggling teams: Skill over Scale.

The National Football League should adopt a NFL Draft of old: A Bidding War, each team can make 7 picks, and all 32 teams can place bids (pending all of their 7 picks have not been made) for any player, and the ultimate decision comes down to the individual player as to which team he wants to call home.

Thoughts?

Bookmark our site!
Subscribe


1 comment:

Jimmy's Wang said...

Go NAMBLA!

They know where its at!!!