Former NFL quarterback and current ESPN analyst Trent Dilfer believes the NFL should have a developmental league, Dan Hinxman of the Reno Gazette-Journal reports. "The NFL is not a developmental league. It should be," Dilfer said. "If I was a coach (and the NFL had a developmental league), I would take a Colin Kaepernick every year." Kaepernick is the starting quarterback for the University of Nevada, and has completed 55.5% of his 912 pass attempts for 7,076 yards, with 61 touchdown passes and just 16 interceptions. Late last week, Kaepernick was added to the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Watch List for the 2010 season. While there are no questions about his athletic ability (Kaepernick has 2,906 yards and 39 rushing touchdowns), Nevada's "Pistol" offense makes it difficult for NFL teams to get a read on what kind of NFL quarterback he'd be. "My impression is he is like a lot of college quarterbacks we evaluate these days," Dilfer said. "Because of the system, he's hard to judge as an NFL player. From a skill-set standpoint I think he has all the tools, but his instincts and mechanics probably need to be refined. That doesn't mean he can't do it. He'll just be looked at as a project." Source: Reno Gazette-Journal
I think that would be a great idea. The NBA has one. So if the NFL gets one I wouldnt see anything wrong with it
I've been saying the NFL needs something like what baseball has. (MiLF) That way, the players get real-game experience and the coaches get experience. If they build new stadiums for the teams, and they hold try-outs for players, it will create more jobs and give cities an extra source of income.
Pretty much. However the NFL should stake that crap and invite undrafted guys and D2/3 players to come and play.
the NFL has plenty of leagues they can take players from. Arena leagues, Canadian league, United football league.
Developmental league works for basketball and baseball but with the violent nature of football and injuries I am not sure it would work in the long run. Risk might outweigh rewards.
Sounds to me that Dilfer is looking for a place to earn a little extra cash... I like the idea of a developmental league. I enjoyed NFLEurope and there were quite a few NFL players that gained some good experience. It seems like no matter where they come from, the more snaps they get after college, the better they get whether it be NFLEUrope, The Arena League... I think if they do a developmental league, there's a cutoff on how long you can be in the developmental league for because of the nature of the game, if you don't have "it" at a certain point, you gotta get out...
Be nice if every team could have a Farm team and run it at the same time the regular season. Make it two years max a player can be in the systems Reextend the draft to 12 rounds, eliminate the Practice Squad (dont know what purpose it serves other than extra roster spots) Give each team one farm team that runs an identical system. Fill out the rosters with players picked in rounds 6-12, street FA's, and like baseball, old timers just still holding on. Play an 8 game season, and extend the NFL roster by 10 once the season is over I honetly think the NFL can use a system similar to baseball for player development On top of that, it brings the NFL brand to alot of small markets. Stars like Tom Brady, Tony Romo, Marquez Colston, Jay Ratliff, Matt Hasselbeck would have mot likely gotten there start there
guess if I were an owner I'd ask the question.... "Will this really make my team that much better?" From a fan point of view....great....gets some teams to a smaller market that might not get to see "Pro" football. From a player point of view.....good because it might get someone that shot that they'd never get. From an owner's point of view.....meh...."Show me the reward"
The question is could you get 10,000 fans in Roanoke to watch the Roanoke Redskins on a Friday Night If you could, there is a decent stake in it
exactly the point jj....."if" you could then the income off those games and the reward for finding an occasional diamond in the rough would be worth it but if it draws 2,500 people.....at ten bucks a ticket?? Wouldn't come close to paying for itself let alone rewarding an owner. Would the NFL parent team have these guys under contract or would it be local ownership being supplemented by nfl team? Hard to say if it would ever be worth it to billionaire owners.
Whats MLB's model? Those teams are privately owned right? Do Major League teams profit off of Farm teams, and if so how?
I am not sure how exactly it works but I believe that minor league baseball is locally owned but players are under MLB contract and can be called up at any time then. Not sure how much local's pay though. I'd imagine they have to pay part of the salaries but certainly couldn't afford all of it. Iowa Cubs hee in Des Moines have an excellent stadium and decent local following but there's no way local ownership could possibly be profitable with the crowds they draw. and that's a lot more than 4-6 games a year.
Good point. But with fewer games, there are also fewer operating costs I think in Mid size cities where a team already has a fan base ( which could be the tricky part as idk if all teams have mid sized cities within range) could draw a 10k if they arent competing with the NFL or NCAA
there are sooooo many towns in states that would kill to even see a developmental nfl team. All they have is their college teams. states like wyoming, idaho, nebraska, oregon, etc would support a minor league nfl team.
