2014 NFL Draft Pushed Back To May

[Tom Kessenich]

I'll refrain from passing judgment until I see more of the details but I remember when the draft was two days in April. That seemed to work out just fine, didn't it?

@AdamSchefter
NFL and NFLPA are on verge of pushing back draft to May and moving up start of league year to before combine, per sources.

[CALI CARTEL]

Been rumblings of this for a while, the NFL wants to "own" the month with Draft talk, and right now they have a good amount of the talk in April, but it overlaps with the end of the College Basketball and the start of the Baseball seasons -- if you push it back a few more weeks into May, that's more time to debate and scrutinize the prospects in the media, more time for teams to do their due diligence in scouting, and it'll push back the first round of OTA's enough that schools on the Quarter system won't have draftee's who are ineligible to attend those OTA's.

[Tom Kessenich]

Goodell is claiming the draft is being pushed back so it doesn't conflict with Easter Sunday.

Someone may want to inform the Commish that the NFL draft no longer occurs on a Sunday.

[Greg Ambrosius]

Goodell is claiming the draft is being pushed back so it doesn't conflict with Easter Sunday.

Someone may want to inform the Commish that the NFL draft no longer occurs on a Sunday.

It's all about the money. That's the only reason for moving the draft date.

[Tom Kessenich]

Goodell is claiming the draft is being pushed back so it doesn't conflict with Easter Sunday.

Someone may want to inform the Commish that the NFL draft no longer occurs on a Sunday.

It's all about the money. That's the only reason for moving the draft date.

Yup. Be nice if he was at least man enough to admit it.

[King of Queens]

NFL Draft History since NFL/AFL merger

1970: January 27-28 TU, W [26 teams x 17 rounds]
1971: January 28-29 TH, F [26 teams x 17 rounds]
1972: February 1-2 TU, W [26 teams x 17 rounds]
1973: January 30-31 TU, W [26 teams x 17 rounds]
1974: January 29-30 TU, W [26 teams x 17 rounds]
1975: January 28-29 TU, W [26 teams x 17 rounds]
1976: April 8-9 TH, F [28 teams x 17 rounds] (Seattle and Tampa expansion; first draft with official "Mr Irrelevant")
1977: May 3-4 TU, W [28 teams x 12 rounds] (first year of Supplemental Draft)
1978: May 2-3 TU, W [28 teams x 12 rounds]
1979: May 3-4 TH, F [28 teams x 12 rounds]
1980: April 29-30 TU, W [28 teams x 12 rounds] (first draft aired by ESPN in entirety)
1981: April 28-29 TU, W [28 teams x 12 rounds]
1982: April 27-28 TU, W [28 teams x 12 rounds]
1983: April 26-27 TU, W [28 teams x 12 rounds]
1984: May 1-2 TU, W [28 teams x 12 rounds]
1985: April 30-May 1 TU, W [28 teams x 12 rounds]
1986: April 29-30 TU, W [28 teams x 12 rounds]
1987: April 28-29 TU, W [28 teams x 12 rounds]
1988: April 24-25 SU, M [28 teams x 12 rounds]
1989: April 23-24 SU, M [28 teams x 12 rounds]
1990: April 22-23 SU, M [28 teams x 12 rounds]
1991: April 21-22 SU, M [28 teams x 12 rounds]
1992: April 26-27 SU, M [28 teams x 12 rounds]
1993: April 25-26 SU, M [28 teams x 8 rounds]
1994: April 24-25 SU, M [28 teams x 7 rounds] ("Who the hell is Mel Kiper, anyway?")
1995: April 22-23 SA, SU [30 teams x 7 rounds] (Carolina and Jacksonville expansion)
1996: April 20-21 SA, SU [30 teams x 7 rounds]
1997: April 19-20 SA, SU [30 teams x 7 rounds]
1998: April 18-19 SA, SU [30 teams x 7 rounds]
1999: April 17-18 SA, SU [31 teams x 7 rounds] (Cleveland expansion)
2000: April 15-16 SA, SU [31 teams x 7 rounds]
2001: April 21-22 SA, SU [31 teams x 7 rounds]
2002: April 20-21 SA, SU [32 teams x 7 rounds, and every year thereafter] (Houston expansion)
2003: April 26-27 SA, SU
2004: April 24-25 SA, SU
2005: April 23-24 SA, SU
2006: April 29-30 SA, SU
2007: April 28-29 SA, SU
2008: April 26-27 SA, SU
2009: April 25-26 SA, SU
2010: April 22-24 TH, F, SA (first three-day draft)
2011: April 28-30 TH, F, SA
2012: April 26-28 TH, F, SA

[philpo]

Setting it up to start a 18 game regular season in a couple years

[CALI CARTEL]

Setting it up to start a 18 game regular season in a couple years

Yep, need to push the Super Bowl back another week or two; hey, once you are into February, might as well use it up, nothing else going on that month except the NBA & NHL All-Star Breaks.

However, first step is a 2nd Bye Week, with a 16-game, 18-week regular season, more $

Then, cutting of a preseason game or two to go to the 18-game, 20-week Regular Season, lot more $$$

[Tom Kessenich]

lot more $$$

That's the goal. We'll just ignore the massive potential injury issues that are likely to arise with more regular season games.

Good thing Goodell is so earnest about player safety, huh?

[Greg Ambrosius]

lot more $$$

That's the goal. We'll just ignore the massive potential injury issues that are likely to arise with more regular season games.

Good thing Goodell is so earnest about player safety, huh?

As an NFL fan and a fantasy football player, even I don't want an 18-game regular season. But it appears ol' Roger does. He's going to force this 18-game regular season down America's throats even if it lessens the quality of the games and hurts the players. See his comments yesterday:

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/93012 ... er-goodell

More games wouldn't be better for fantasy football, that's for sure. More players will be sitting later in the game with leads so big the final weeks mean nothing.

And trust me, I hate paying for a pre-season game at regular season prices. But we don't need to start the season on Labor Day weekend and we don't need to have 18 regular season games. Roger, just cut the pre-season down by 2 games and lose that revenue. I'm sure you'll find a way to make it up somewhere else.

Oh, and don't expect instant replay to leave anytime soon. Microsoft is the title sponsor of the on-field booth for the next 5 years. Nothing is changing there with that outdated setup. Sheesh.