What do players make of draft outcomes?

redeal

I've always wondered.
Many of the top footballers (soccer players) do get a chance to sign for the club that they supported as a kid. Or at least select a club they like.

When it comes to the draft in American football, the players don't really get a chance to pick which team to play for, the team picks them.

I know they get lots & lots of money to keep them happy and are given the responsiblity to try turn that team into a winning team of the future.
But a lot of those franchises have never won a super bowl or even gone deep into the playoffs ever!
E.g. Mathew Stafford for the lions. (There are other examples but this was the first that came to mind, No offence to lions fans). Your a player being selected no.1 in that draft class & you get lumped with a franchise that hasn't got a great history of winning.

My question really is, do you think players think at the back of their minds 'why did i have to get lumped with this team when i look around the league at other players that aren't as good as me doing so much better coz the team around them are quality'.

Is the draft that fair... or is it simply the best system thats on offer at the moment...

themont85

The NFL has always looked after making each team competative first rather than putting the players first, as is their wont in increasing exposure and making profits for their owners. Stuff which has benefitted players like Free Agency had to be dragged out of the NFL. Its the system everybody has to deal with so they all get on with it. Unless of course you're Eli Manning.

In reality the players are pawns in the NFL for the most part, but that's the system. If there was an other option for players I'm sure many would jump ship (like the USFL in the 80s).

Hazys

redeal wrote: »

I've always wondered.
Many of the top footballers (soccer players) do get a chance to sign for the club that they supported as a kid. Or at least select a club they like.

When it comes to the draft in American football, the players don't really get a chance to pick which team to play for, the team picks them.

I know they get lots & lots of money to keep them happy and are given the responsiblity to try turn that team into a winning team of the future.
But a lot of those franchises have never won a super bowl or even gone deep into the playoffs ever!
E.g. Mathew Stafford for the lions. (There are other examples but this was the first that came to mind, No offence to lions fans). Your a player being selected no.1 in that draft class & you get lumped with a franchise that hasn't got a great history of winning.

My question really is, do you think players think at the back of their minds 'why did i have to get lumped with this team when i look around the league at other players that aren't as good as me doing so much better coz the team around them are quality'.

Is the draft that fair... or is it simply the best system thats on offer at the moment...

TBH Honest money talks in all sports, the draft, the salary cap and the old CBA help restrict the dominence of money in the sport and make the NFL competitive and a healthy business. The Premiership is extremely uncompetitive because of money and its also a terrible business to be in as very few teams ever make a profit.

As for soccer players getting a chance to pick the club that they supported as a kid, that only works if your team was Man Utd, Arsenal, Chelsea or Liverpool, again money talks, otherwise Rooney would be still playing for Everton. The last person i can remember who had opportunities of more money and a better team that turned them down because of loyalty was Matt LeTissier and that was 15 years ago.

People not matter what your sport, nationality or job will nearly always choose money over loyalty (obviously within reason).

Do some players who great drafted by teams like the Raiders, Bills, etc think "Oh Christ not the Raiders" but put on a smile when meeting the Commish on the podium and tell Dion it was their dream to play for the Raiderss, sure but the majority of these guys (JaMarcus excluded) are Football players through and through and are that good because they love the sport, so when they put their pads on Sunday they play their heart out.

So eventually as the poor teams get a chance to pick the best players they get the best chance to improve and eventually become good, some teams are better run than others and make better decisions in the draft, but dynasties are hard to come by unlike in most professional soccer leagues its the team with the most money who is successful.

So i think the draft, salary cap and the old CBA (hopefully a new and similar one for next season) are vital for the competitiveness of the sport, so some good players end up on a poor team but they worse the team the more heavily financially compensated they are, even then there are very few occasions where a player isnt just greatful to have made it to the NFL (unless you are Eli).

Chucky the tree

I'd also say a lot of the competitive players would in a way like the oppurtunity to be the one turn a franchise around like the lions and lead it to the play-offs etc etc. Also being drafted by a crap team gives them the best chance to actually play football which is what 90% of them really love doing(JR excluded again :rolleyes:). Take stafford for example, lets say he held out for the Pats, then he must realise he'll be sitting on his ass for the next 3 years at least, and I doubt he really wants to do that.

redeal

Do some players who great drafted by teams like the Raiders, Bills, etc think "Oh Christ not the Raiders" but put on a smile when meeting the Commish on the podium and tell Dion it was their dream to play for the Raiderss, sure but the majority of these guys (JaMarcus excluded) are Football players through and through and are that good because they love the sport, so when they put their pads on Sunday they play their heart out.

Like hazys says - There must be quite a few players over the years that think to themselves "oh nuts, why does that team have to pick me'.

I guess i feel slightly sorry for some of these players that end up with some really no-hoper franchises. Know doubt the money helps ease the pain but in all honesty if it were me & I was a quality player coming into the draft & looking like I was going to a really crap franchise I'd be tempted to pull a few stunts before the draft to drop me down a few places.
(surely the end aim is to win a superbowl and not just make money).

Could you imagine if you were a quality football player like rooney & you were stuck with everton for ever. He'd never win the european cup etc. & people would never really know if you were potentially the best

Chucky the tree

redeal wrote: »

Like hazys says - There must be quite a few players over the years that think to themselves "oh nuts, why does that team have to pick me'.

I guess i feel slightly sorry for some of these players that end up with some really no-hoper franchises. Know doubt the money helps ease the pain but in all honesty if it were me & I was a quality player coming into the draft & looking like I was going to a really crap franchise I'd be tempted to pull a few stunts before the draft to drop me down a few places.
(surely the end aim is to win a superbowl and not just make money).

Could you imagine if you were a quality football player like rooney & you were stuck with everton for ever. He'd never win the european cup etc. & people would never really know if you were potentially the best

There are very few franchises no-hoper franchises though.

themont85

Elway did it too in fairness, jumping out on the Baltimore Colts. I've no problem with it. If a player has leverage to not go onto a team they don't want to, go for it, its too risky for 99.9% of players though.

Royal Seahawk

I think the real reason players aren't too concerned about where they land is because if they stay there for the duration of their respective careers then there is a great chance that the team that picked them is going to be competitive at some stage of their time there, such is the level playing field in the NFL.
Look at the Colts when they drafted P Manning, they sucked, same with the Chargers when they drafted Rivers. Look at where them franchises are today. Now look at the Rams, if you were drafted by them in 2002 you would have delighted. Not now though.

You'd never get that in the Premiership, and that's one of the reasons why I love the NFL.