The NFL Needs Minor League Football

Welcome to my new series on how to make sports better.

Today we have the NFL. I’ve fielded suggestions (most of them involve firing Roger Goodell), researched things, and ultimately came up with the best way to improve the NFL. Ultimately ending up with what I believe will improve the NFL in the long ahul and that is minor league football.

Below is my argument for it, and also a video that list 32 potential sites for minor league football, including potential names and stadiums that already exist for them to play in.

REASON:

The biggest issue with the NFL today is that the first month no one is ready by week one for live action, and by the time most teams hits their stride it’s after a hopeful month of avoiding injuries (which are rising by the year). The reason why is because no one gets to practice anymore. In an attempt to avoid lawsuits the NFL reduced preseason practices, and hitting during practices. This leads to sloppy play and many fringe players finding themselves jobless because they had no chances to prove themselves.

Look, let’s be honest, the college game is no longer meant to make NFL players, it is meant to win games and that’s it. We see it all the time, a coach with a winning record can produce zero decent NFL players. That’s because they aren’t in the business of grooming products for another level, they are in the business of wins and losses. So these players who can’t adjust quickly to the NFL game, and don’t look pretty in practice gear get cut because no one had time to give them a shot…

And since no one is ready and no one has proper technique more players are getting injured.

Also, the practice squad makes no sense. Here is a group of players that one team pays, they learn one teams playbook…. then at any moment 31 other teams can pick them up at will…. yeah… that makes sense.

SOLUTION: Minor League Football

Minor league football has been dabbled with before, but with no real convictions from the league. NFL Europe came at a time where Europe didn’t (and still sort of doesn’t) care about American Football. Other leagues have been made or pondered but never made an impact.

Other issues would be the temporary stretching of coaching staffs and players but that is not the biggest deal. The other hurdles would be sponsors, locations, and scheduling. All things that would fix themselves after a couple years.

Now about the scheduling difficulty.

I do not support a full (key word full) spring league like some have proposed, that doesn’t help keep players game ready. I do support a few exhibition games after the NFL Draft to showcase the rookies in a minor league setting to help acclimate them to the league in a smaller and simpler environment. However, I believe it would be a Fall league running during the NFL season but would be played on…wait for it… Monday-Tuesday that ends early to give time for late season call ups.

Excluding the Thursday game, having games Monday/Tuesday would allow for the majority of teams to see a player play, give them time to recover physically, then call them up, and all they are missing is one day of practice. Which was compensated for by them playing an actual game. It also gives the media in the local areas and their parent organizations city something to view and talk about during the week as well.

This league would help develop teams 3rd string QBs or #4-5 Wide Receivers, back up Linemen, etc.. Eventually allowing these players to be better experienced when they are called into service. Instead of maybe in junk time of a game when they get a few snaps, they get full throttle action. We saw the NFL Europe produce talent every year for the NFL, but since then we have had no intermediate level between the college game and the pros. It is time to bridge that gap. Not every player gets into the best schools or has the best scheme when playing in the college level. This would help them have a chance to make it into the league that the current league can’t currently give.

So a quick list of benefits for the NFL:

• It helps address the issue of replacing injured players with players whom have experience this season.
• It will help develop players to have proper technique to avoid injuries.
• It will get more buzz from the media (that means more money).
• It will also get more cities involved in the NFL without having to create new pro-level franchises. (that means more money…again).

Now I know, “but Scott, where will all these teams be located? Where will they play? What will they be named?”

Well I am glad you asked. I conveniently made a video for every NFL team’s new (but not real…yet) Minor League Football team with locations, stadiums, and team names. (Sorry the first bit of audio messed up).