Impact of Moving the Draft to May?

[Fritz]

I'm a little unsure if the free agent timeline in the past was complete before the April draft. I think it was, but I do wonder if moving the draft to May now will change anything - give anyone an advantage, or change teams' thinking.

If they have more time to scout, will teams draft any differently? Have teams always had their free agents all signed (or not) before the draft?

I wonder if moving the draft makes any difference to TT. He seems to work on the draft so much that I don't think the extra time would do much, one way or the other. Or maybe he'd uncover even more players we've never heard of.

Thoughts?

[red]

i'd really like to see the draft moved ahead of the start of free agency. the draft is a complete crap shoot, you have no clue who will be available when you're picking (unless you have pick #1)

lets look at us and the safety position. lets say we don't try and sign a good FA safety because we would rather take one in the draft (i know, thats tough to imagine).

lets say the draft gets here and the safeties we have with a first round grade are both gone when we pick. TT doesn't like to reach, so we don't take a safety in the first. in the next 31 picks, and handfull of the next tier of safeties go off the board. we might end up with a 3rd or 4th tier guy, so maybe not the starter we were looking for

so we have to go back to free agency, but nothing but shit is left. so we're screwed again

however if the draft comes first, and plays out the way i described, then we can then be players for some of the top safety FA's

als, lets say this year we go out and spend tons of money on a good FA safety (like byrd or ward for arguments sake), then the draft comes, and maybe HaHa slids all the way to us in the first. well shit. we'd love to draft haha, but we really don't need him now

it just seems backwards for us, especially for a team like us that puts the emphasis on building through the draft first, because TT is gonna want to fill our needs through the draft before anything else

[run pMc]

Agree with red. If you draft for BPA, you may still have a bunch of holes on your roster that you're left scrambling to fill.
Also, dragging the draft out to May is just asinine. They could hold it 2 weeks after the combine. I think it puts too much emphasis on training for the combine and pro day workouts instead of working on functional football drills or learning a playbook.

[mraynrand]

red, I think the way FA really works best is that maybe you can sign one or two - at most - top tier players in any one year. Given that, you really are targeting a particular position. The likelihood that that ONE spot will bungle up in draft maneuvering is highly unlikely. Given also that you need to sign your own guys - I think having that done before the draft gives you more certainty in what you have and what you need in the draft. And if you're lucky enough to not have any huge "start this year" need in the draft, then you can build for the future and even take a more risky BPA tilted approach.

[Bossman641]

i'd really like to see the draft moved ahead of the start of free agency. the draft is a complete crap shoot, you have no clue who will be available when you're picking (unless you have pick #1)

lets look at us and the safety position. lets say we don't try and sign a good FA safety because we would rather take one in the draft (i know, thats tough to imagine).

lets say the draft gets here and the safeties we have with a first round grade are both gone when we pick. TT doesn't like to reach, so we don't take a safety in the first. in the next 31 picks, and handfull of the next tier of safeties go off the board. we might end up with a 3rd or 4th tier guy, so maybe not the starter we were looking for

so we have to go back to free agency, but nothing but shit is left. so we're screwed again

however if the draft comes first, and plays out the way i described, then we can then be players for some of the top safety FA's

als, lets say this year we go out and spend tons of money on a good FA safety (like byrd or ward for arguments sake), then the draft comes, and maybe HaHa slids all the way to us in the first. well shit. we'd love to draft haha, but we really don't need him now

it just seems backwards for us, especially for a team like us that puts the emphasis on building through the draft first, because TT is gonna want to fill our needs through the draft before anything else

I agree Red and I actually believe having the draft prior to FA was discussed in the past but the players' union was opposed to it.