Does anyone know why the draft was shortened to 7 rounds?
It seems to me that there are good players that go as UDFA every year.
I would think that a 9 or 10 round would still be beneficial.
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Does anyone know why the draft was shortened to 7 rounds?
It seems to me that there are good players that go as UDFA every year.
I would think that a 9 or 10 round would still be beneficial.
[quote=MeetJoeGreene]Does anyone know why the draft was shortened to 7 rounds?
It seems to me that there are good players that go as UDFA every year.
I would think that a 9 or 10 round would still be beneficial.[/quote]
Probably had a lot to do with the expansion to 32 teams, plus the inclusion of compensatory picks. I'd imagine that a 12 round draft in the 70's with fewer teams and no comp picks would have somewhere close to the same total number of players drafted as a current 7 round draft with 32 teams and all those comp picks added. I haven't done any research to back this up though...only a guess off the top of my head.
Maybe with the crazy-high signing bonuses rookies are getting, no one could afford any more players.... :P
I don't recall exactly why it changed, but I believe it was in 1992 was the last year with 12 rounds. And expansion was a few years after that. I wonder if a CBA was signed then or something????
[quote=BigLebowski]I don't recall exactly why it changed, but I believe it was in 1992 was the last year with 12 rounds. And expansion was a few years after that. I wonder if a CBA was signed then or something????[/quote]
It was when the CBA was signed. So when PLAN A free agency began, the draft was limited to 7 rounds.
Same reason the NBA draft was shortened to 2 rounds, I would imagine.
Beyond a certain point, a very low percentage of players actually make the team. Furthermore, it allows you (the player) to go to a team where you might actually fit in... in other words, YOU can choose the team that you might be able to win a job for.
Rather than being a 10th round QB drafted for the Steelers, you might prefer to go to say Baltimore, who doesn't have a starter and backup locked in.
The draft was shortened as part of the CBA to increase the number of UDFAs. In relaity, it is better to be a UDFA than a Round 5-7 pick because UDFAs arefree to negotiate with whatever team they want and agree to whatever signing bonus they want. IIRC the union was really big into reducing the number of rounds because if you are drafted the scale for salary and bonuses is very set and defined by round and position on a percentage increase basis over the previous year, i.e. cost certainty.
Televi$ion.