1. Graham Barton, C, Duke 2. Ricky Pearsall, WR, Florida 3. Maason Smith, DT, LSU 3. Max Melton, CB, Rutgers 4. Blake Fisher, OT, Notre Dame 6. Tommy Eichenberg, ILB, Ohio State 6. MJ Devonshire, CB, Pittsburgh
Don't make any changes unless we're adding 6 more teams to the league.
As usual this is another NFL money grab, with the key revisions to the CBA apparently being two more playoff games the first weekend (was unaware there was any outcry that two wildcard teams were not enough) and adding the 17th regular season game
NFL moving toward the NBA/NHL model of any team .500 or above making the playoffs
"The changes to the NFL's playoff format would take effect for the 2020 season, assuming the new CBA is ratified beforehand. Had the proposed format been in place this past season, the Los Angeles Rams and Pittsburgh Steelers would have been the next teams included in the expanded playoff field."
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/...ba-sources-say
Yet another god awful idea from the mind of Roger Goodell. 14 playoff teams in a 32 team league, best way to ensure that mediocre teams that don't actually belong in the playoffs make it there. The AFC in particular has had issues in recent years of fielding 6 teams that actually deserve playoff spots and now they are looking at 7 apparently. Why not just make it 8 per conference then and go all the way instead of this half measure towards mediocrity
for those who haven't seen or hear as of yet
based on the new format in the the only team that would have benefited the most is the Steelers as they wouldn't have missed the playoffs in the last decade.
Plus adding one team isn't terrible
top seed gets the all important bye
2 vs 7
3 vs 6
4 vs 5
Tomlin can only make the playoffs under millennial snowflake rules. Dong playoff spot. Get out ahead of this mess and fire him now.
"You've heard people brag about 'being in the zone'. They don't know what the Hell being in the zone is about. I played in the NFL for 15 years and I was only in the zone that one time." - "Mean" Joe Greene on the 1974 playoff victory over Oakland
I'm all in on a dong 7th playoff team in each conference. MOAR FOOTBALL!!! The 17th game is icing on da cake.
I would like to think the owners want to preserve some incentive for playing out the end of the regular season by preserving a bye for the #1 seed and having 3 playoff games in each conference the first weekend
More likely explanation is that six is about the limit on playoff games that can fit into the available TV windows the first weekend without games overlapping
Eight playoff games would presumably require 2 Monday games and the late Monday game would get crap ratings
There's a bigger issue. How do you decide which half of the league gets an extra home game?
Wait for the first team to lose the only playoff bye to a team with 9 home games to their 8.
No surprise the expedited CBA approval process has become a cluster
[T]he union's executive council -- yes, the body in charge of negotiating the deal with the owners -- voted 6-5 to not recommend the proposal to the rest of union membership, citing concerns over the NFL's desire to expand the regular season from 16 games to 17....
Eventually, the player reps decided to table their discussions and attempt to continue negotiations with the owners. A source said the union still planned to hold a vote of its full membership next week, although they would prefer the player reps to vote to recommend the deal prior to doing so....
Put simply, the players don't want to play 17 games....
What happens if the players don't approve this?
The expectation is that the owners would then proceed to negotiate new deals with their television network partners -- the current deals are set to expire over the next couple of years -- and hold off on further CBA negotiations until next offseason.
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/...agreement-line
Give the extra home game to the last year's worst record.
They say all marriages are made in heaven, but so are thunder and lightning.
― Clint Eastwood
Huh!
Yep
Players have figured out most of the CBA is window dressing for the owners central goal of getting a 17th game
Owners allegedly say they will negotiate new TV deals in 2020 even if a new CBA is not ratified, but since the point in getting a 17th game is to sweeten the TV deals not certain how that would work (clause for NFL to reopen TV deals if a 17th game is added?)
lol, what new CBA? They're going to the mat on this one. I fully expect them to lose a full season digging in their heels over guaranteed contracts alone.
The "extra games" charade will be brought out every time and dropped every time. "Look! We gave the players a concession! Never mind that we just made it up for leverage and were never going to actually do it - what a show of good faith that we were willing to give up all that imaginary profit! Player safety, lol! Now give us something WE want in return!"
Anyway, much ado about nothing, since there will be a strike or a lockout guaranteed. Does that happen at the end of this year if nothing is done? Or is it like last time where they played one more season under that weird no-salary-cap-but-actually-there's-a-salary-cap thing?
I bet it's the first one, this season and then a strike. Vince McMahon probably saw this coming and timed the XFL so it would only have to hang on for one season and then clean up when there's no pro football for 18 months.
Sucks, because that probably means the end of Ben's career. Great that it also probably means the end of Tom Brady's career.
See you Space Cowboy ...
They are going to play 16 international games per year? Highly doubt that. The alternate NFC/AFC thing might work...until someone started seeing any level of correlation between home games/away games and winning the SB.
There is a reason that no other big pro sports league plays an unbalanced schedule. It is dumb and opens yourself up to too much self-inflicted inane controversy. But that is very on brand for the NFL.
With most players having short careers they cannot afford the loss of income from a strike
But that also was true during the 1982 and 1987 seasons when games were lost
And the owners are even relatively wealthier than they were during the 80s so they could take the hit of lost revenue
But the owners business partners the networks are paying far more money for the games than during the 80s as well as being far more dependent on the NFL for holding on to viewers and advertisers now with audiences for programming other than the NFL being in free fall compared to the last lockout/strike back during the 80s
With pressure on both the players and the owners from their broadcast partners there will not be a strike that disrupts the cash flow from the TV golden goose
Look at who the #7 seeds would have been this year, the Steelers and the Rams, neither of which were good enough to make the playoffs. I can think of some examples from the past few years alone of teams that did make the playoffs but weren't playoff caliber or didn't belong. Do I think there should be 7/16 teams making it per conference absolutely not
SI article on why the CBA negotiations appear to be going off the rails includes this reason high profile players such as JJ Watt and Richard Sherman are not brimming over with enthusiasm for the proposed CBA
https://www.si.com/nfl/2020/02/24/nf...ombine-preview
I say let them strike, let them lock out. Hash out all the 'dumb crap' that has crept into the NFL and make it about football again.
The NFL moved closer to labor peace for another decade early Wednesday, when player representatives voted to send a new deal already approved by the owners that includes a 17-game season to the full union membership.
A simple majority of some 2,000 players must accept the agreement for it to go into effect this year....
The new CBA calls for a 17-game regular season, which is expected to begin in 2021; more roster spots; a shortened preseason; a higher percentage of revenue for players; and upgraded pensions for former players. The owners also agreed to eliminate the $250,000 cap on earnings for players when they get the extra game check for the 17-game season.
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/...rship-approval
So all it took to get the player reps to back down on not recommending the CBA was to sweeten the deal by paying full extra game checks to anyone who would have been capped at getting $250K for the 17th game (which probably includes a lot of the player reps), which the owners probably knew they would do from day one of the negotiations
And the owners get what they most wanted, which is the 17th game
Owners confirm which side always wins these negotiations once again.
Steelers big beneficiaries if this gets ratified quickly so they can get some more maneuvering room under the cap to tag Dupree
The players are so bad at this. They could've used a 17th game to get a major concession. Say healthcare for life.
But they saw dollar signs and caved. Owners are playing them.