The biggest sport in America is about to expand in a new way. There will be a new football developmental league that will take place during the Spring. While the NBA has the D-League and the MLB has the Minors, there is no in between college football and the NFL for the sport of football.
While many believe it might not be very entertaining, it could serve a purpose. What purpose do you ask? Well, the NFL might be lacking talent in certain spots such as the quarterback position. With the top of the league rich in potential Hall of Famers like Tom Brady, Ben Roethlisberger, Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers and Eli Manning, the bottom is bad. With names such as Cody Kessler, Case Keenum and Blaine Gabbert making a significant amount of starts this season.
The point is if there is a way to keep developing players while keeping them off the game day roster and practice squad, they should be doing it.
The new league has no intention of competing with the NFL. We all know it wouldn’t want to end like the USFL did.
To start, the league will be made up of just 4 teams. Most developmental leagues start out small and try to continue to grow. Players that are under contract will not be able to be moved down to the league. It will be made for free agents only. It will basically be a great audition for players that might have great talent and got passed on in the draft or that are proving they have recovered from an injury.
The NFL had a developmental league but it was shut down in 2007 because it was losing the owners about $1 million each. With the hope that a different type of structure could help produce revenue for the owners, we all are aware they’d be on board for it.
Names like Jake Delhomme, Dante Hall, Adam Vinatieri, and James Harrison played in the past developmental league which brings a certain type of excitement.
The league will have a season of practices and 6 games through the month of April, according to Harry Lyles Jr. at SB Nation.
If the NFL is to make itself highly invested in the league, I expect it will expand throughout the years and learn from what went wrong the last time. I mean it has been 10 years since it was closed.
The NBA has had great feedback from their D-League the past few years and it has been a convenient way to send players down and still get them in games. In basketball, they are allowed to send you down and bring you back up during the season. Even though it won’t open up like this, I see it down the road for the new spring league.
Not everyone involved in the NFL is excited, though. CBS Sports reported that Sean Payton thinks it is just a way to get more programming for NFL Network. It will for sure be interesting to see the talent pool in the league. It can’t be worse than watching a college football game…right?
It is important to note that this league, according to a number of reports, is not connected to the NFL.
Spring League not affiliated with NFL, but an official developmental league for NFL will probably happen within a few years.
— Jon Heath (@JonHeathNFL) December 22, 2016
