Fly in the Ointment......Free Agency Most likely will occur after the NFL Draft

[ATLBound]

(01-25-2011 12:54 PM)g-dawg Wrote:  Does anybody else see this as a problem for the Atlanta Falcons?

I do.....

I think the way the free agency and the NFL draft sets up for the Falcons - they need more "star" players that are ready to come in, start and make an impact on Day#1 on the defensive side of the ball whereas Falcons need to "re-stock" on offense and improve depth on the offensive side of the ball.

To accomplish the above, the Falcons would be better suited to go after some high-profile Defensive Players - I say Defensive End and Cornerback - in Free Agency. I also think free agency would be a great place to get us a #3 WR who can come in and play the slot.

In the draft, I could see the Falcons going for offensive players if they are able to meet their defensive immediate needs in free agency.

At issue is the expiring CBA - I believe it expires on March 3rd. Given the prognostications in the media, the thought is the Owners/Players will probably come to an agreement hopefully by June 1st or thereabouts(just a guess). So, then you would be looking at possibly a 10 day window for teams to designate franchise/transition tags on their own players and get them re-signed. After that, you would figure the league-wide free agency would begin where teams can sign other teams players.

It seems to me, with this backwards thing going - NFL Draft First, NFL Free Agency 2nd - that teams will be more inclined more than ever to draft "needs-based" in 2011 NFL Draft because there is no guarantee on the back-end that the NFL teams will be able to get their top free agent targets.

From all indications, I get the sense from hearing Dimitroff on the local radio shows that the Atlanta Falcons will be aggressive in free agency. If so, I think the lack of a CBA and a delayed free agency actually hurts the Falcons somewhat.

What say you?

This is better for all teams in my opinion. The draft is always a crapshoot. You have an idea of who may fall down to your position but you never really know. This way you know what positions you filled in the draft and now you can fill the rest in FA.

For example:
Say you needed a Defensive End and there was a good one available in FA but there was on in the draft you wanted.

Do you go ahead and get the one in FA to be safe or do you take a chance and hope the one in the Draft falls to you or trade up to get the one in the draft?

This way you don't have to make that tough decision.

[TonyGraziani]

(01-25-2011 01:01 PM)g-dawg Wrote:  For example:

I think Falcons should looks at free agency and these players:

Defensive End:
1) Charles Johnson, Panthers
2) Ray Edwards, Vikings
3) Mathias Kiwanuka, Giants

Cornerbacks:
1) Nnamdi Asoumugha (not likely)
2) Antonio Cromartie (character issues?)
3) Champ Bailey (too old?)

but say........Falcons get shut out with those 6 players and they went Offense (WR, OT, TE) in 1st and 2nd rounds.......now what? eeekkkkkk!!!!

On the flipside of that, what if we DID sign those players then missed the offensive prospect we wanted at pick X? Wouldn't you just draft the next highest player on your big board? Same goes for FA. Not a big deal IMO, but I do see how it would cause a bit of an issue.

[Sporkdevil]

Just came upon this thread. There would be no way to know who would be available, as a new CBA could have restricted free agency until 6 years of work. You couldn't guarantee much.

I think this should give them some motivation to get a CBA done, because there will be less of a bidding war for those free agents if teams drafted for need, and GM's can't plan for how this year will go.

The draft is still 90+ days away, so there is time, but this could really end up sucking.

[g-dawg]

(01-26-2011 12:31 PM)Sporkdevil Wrote:  Just came upon this thread. There would be no way to know who would be available, as a new CBA could have restricted free agency until 6 years of work. You couldn't guarantee much.

I think this should give them some motivation to get a CBA done, because there will be less of a bidding war for those free agents if teams drafted for need, and GM's can't plan for how this year will go.

The draft is still 90+ days away, so there is time, but this could really end up sucking.

true Spork......given that the owner's want concessions to get this deal done - I think your assessment is correct that the NFL current players that are pending free agents recognize that they would be slightly damaged by free agency coming in back of the draft as opposed to prior to draft.

If I was "KING" of the NFL, here is what I would do:
1) mandate a rookie salary scale much like NBA (no more of the top 5 players getting $25-$50 million guaranteed - ridiculous!!!)
2) for the rookie concession, players should be able to get to free agency earlier. This would eliminate the ridiculous holdouts, etc. where players have to wait to long to get to unrestricted free agency.
3) rookie contracts can be no longer than 3-4 years (currently 4-6 years).
4) restricted free agency after 3 years (if you did not sign 4 yr rookie contract).
5) unrestricted free agency after 4 years in NFL
6) franchise tag increases (two per year per team, can be used only twice on same player).
7) 60/40 split between owner's and players on ticket profits and television contract profits.
8) 60/40 split between owner's and players on ancillary profits (licensing, merchandise, etc.)
9) NFL and all 32 teams have to open up their books to the NFLPA and their be full disclosure on revenues/profits/expenses.
10) medical care for life for all NFL players that played 5+ years in the NFL or those that suffered devastating injury before 5 years that ended their career. This "open-ended" expense to owners justifies the "60/40" split on the profits as this will be a HUGE cost to owners - but rightfully so given the concussion issues and other debilitating issues that ex NFL players suffer.
11) Salary Cap stays in place and is figured each year off the total revenues/profits on all sources.
12) Each team will have a "salary floor" just like the maximum "cap".