NFL will have a minor league!!

The NFL could probably start a few affiliate leagues and still sell out all of their games. With one of the biggest markets in the country there is no reason for them not to.

 

Just think about it.. Washed up guys who can no longer cut it in the NFL will have a team to play for... Jeff Garcia will have a permanent job!

 

Roydell Williams will no longer have to deliver chineese food! This great news

 

I think its a good idea. I would love for each team to have a minor league affiliate team. That way you could send players there to develop, and get 1st dibs on them if another team tries to sign them, kinda like the practice squad now. It seems like we always pick up a few guys who have talent, but are just too raw to play in the NFL, and putting a guy on the PS doesn't really do much to develop them. In a minor league they would get game reps and full practices to help them develop more.

I think I would rather them play during the NFL season though just because if you needed to call someone up to play in the NFL bc of an injury or something they would be in game shape already ... make the transition a little easier. I know it won't happen though bc they will make a lot more money, and draw more interest if they do it in the offseason, which will be very important as it is just getting started. It might also help fill the void in my life every offseason.

 

I can't say I'd have much interest in this but go for it NFL.

 

I am for it, but the thing to consider is:

NFL careers are brutally short. A minor league baseball player can easily spend 5 years in the minors and move up to the majors and play for a decade. If a player spends 5 years slaving away in the NFL minor leagues, the vast majority of their useful football years have been spent.

But it's a good idea, anyway. It gives the marginal players a chance to show themselves, rather than rotting. If they moved the Indianapolis minor league team to Evansville, you'd better believe I'd be there.
The NFL has enough money to make this happen. I'm not sure if they could get away with charging more than like 5 bucks for tickets, though.

 

My guess is these rosters will mostly have 1st and 2nd year guys who still have a dream of playing in the NFL. It isn't like these guys are going to get rich playing on these teams so once they see the writing on the wall they will move on. It isn't like there are going to be 32 of these teams either. Probably more like 8. So what you will have is a group of guys that barely missed the cut in the NFL and when you take those guys from 32 NFL teams and distribute them on to 8 minor league teams you potentially have some decent talent. We see PS guys and late round pick guys go on to become not just starters but real good players all the time in the NFL. I bet we see quite a few guys step up to the NFL level after a year or so and contribute. Nothing wrong with letting a kid have another year to learn and mature. Some of these kids will step up. It will be real good for developing QBs and other skill positions.

The only thing I wish they could have is a minor league team regional to the NFL team with some association with that team like in minor league baseball. Probably can't be done in this but having a team as part of the Titans farm system might be interesting. Many of us might follow them more knowing some of those guys could be future Titans.

Oh, if you look at the comments below the article one guy wrote that Miami and Cleveland should get a minor league team so fans in those cities can see real football....kinda funny.

 

Wasn't the United Football League supposed to be an affiliate? And wasn't the CBA supposed to be associated with the NBA? It's 2012, why do they think this is going to work?

 

If they go by MLB standards this will signal the end of college football. As a matter of fact, the NCAA may file a lawsuit.

I don't like the idea.

If these guys play spring ball and make a team, they will be tired when they get to camp and playing during the NFL season makes no sense. It also makes no sense to wait a year to bring a player up so he isn't tired.

College is the NFL farm system, it needs to stay that way.

 

I was thinking about this and maybe it's an experiment to bring in multiple teams at once into the NFL?

I know they have been talking about an LA team for years but adding just one team to me feels like an imbalance. But if LA is taking this long can you imagine what it would take to get say 4 teams introduced at one time? At the very least, introducing 2 teams with another 2 on deck to come in.

Perhaps the NFL is trying to create something that will eventually make it easier to add teams to the league with out imbalance.