The NFL draft is the most confusing thing ever invented

im watching it now on sky in the UK

so ley me get this straight, all the young players play for university teams as opposed to the NFL teams having their own youth academys? and rather than use money you trade picks to get better players? can someone clear something up for me -

the browns just got that brady bloke QB (caused a bit of studio excitement too) and they said he lost out on $25 million by joining the browns, who i do know are terrible, do these kids have any choice bout where they go or what?

there are no football academies in america like the soccer academies in the UK. All the young football players play at the college level were they play for 3 or 4 years. The draft exists in order for the teams to not fight for a player.

you cant trade picks for money. You can only trade picks for other picks, for future picks (2008) or for other current  players ( the raiders traded randy moss for a 4th round pick)

yes in football there is no minor leagues, its straight from college to the pros, and the players really dont have a choice to where they go, they can say they dont want to go somewhere it will be considered but if a team wants a player bad enough they can and will take him against his will. As for quinn losing out on 25 mil, thats all contract stipulation, (probably referring to the 1st pick of the 1st round who will get 30 mil for his first year)g-unit248

WTF thats crazy

what happens if some of these people dont get picked

it seems really strange that they get crazy wages but no money changes hands in terms of transfer fees, do the colleges make anything from their players being high up on the draft

im watching it now on sky in the UK

so ley me get this straight, all the young players play for university teams as opposed to the NFL teams having their own youth academys? and rather than use money you trade picks to get better players? can someone clear something up for me -

the browns just got that brady bloke QB (caused a bit of studio excitement too) and they said he lost out on $25 million by joining the browns, who i do know are terrible, do these kids have any choice bout where they go or what?

villa4europe

The browns aren't terrible. They just need a little offensive help, hence Brady Quinn :)

[QUOTE="g-unit248"]yes in football there is no minor leagues, its straight from college to the pros, and the players really dont have a choice to where they go, they can say they dont want to go somewhere it will be considered but if a team wants a player bad enough they can and will take him against his will. As for quinn losing out on 25 mil, thats all contract stipulation, (probably referring to the 1st pick of the 1st round who will get 30 mil for his first year)villa4europe

WTF thats crazy

what happens if some of these people dont get picked

it seems really strange that they get crazy wages but no money changes hands in terms of transfer fees, do the colleges make anything from their players being high up on the draft

wait my bad, he is guaranteed 30 mil from his contract that is greater then 30 mil but over 6 years (like if he gets hurt or shows up to training camp a fatass he still gets the 30 mil) sure some people dont get picked, they can try out or move on with their lives, colleges dont make money but when a lot of players get drafted out of one college team that college will most likely get some of the best high school kids chasing their professional dreams 

im watching it now on sky in the UK

so ley me get this straight, all the young players play for university teams as opposed to the NFL teams having their own youth academys? and rather than use money you trade picks to get better players? can someone clear something up for me -

the browns just got that brady bloke QB (caused a bit of studio excitement too) and they said he lost out on $25 million by joining the browns, who i do know are terrible, do these kids have any choice bout where they go or what?

villa4europe

The rules for the NFL prohibit any player from entering the league who have been out of high school for under three years. Once a player graduates from high school, he will go to a university and he will play at the college level. While he is playing college football, he is required to work on getting his degree. After three years, if he wishes, he can leave school before he graduates and enter the NFL draft. He could also choose to stay until he graduates, and then enter the draft.

During the draft, each team will get to choose one player from the pool of college players available per round. Of course, teams can make trades, thus resulting in teams having multiple picks in the same round, or no picks in a round at all, but we'll try to keep things simple.

Now, the salary that each team pays the person they drafted is determined by the order he is taken. The #1 overall draft pick will receive more money than the #7 overall draft pick. The reason that they are saying Brady Quinn lost out on $25 million is because Cleveland picked Joe Thomas with their #3 pick, and then picked up Brady Quinn at #22. If they had taken Brady Quinn at #3, they would have had to pay him a lot more money.

As far as having a choice as to where they go, the short answer is no.  Once a team drafts them, then they become part of that team.  Now, I suppose if the player did not like the team that he was being drafted into, he could simply not sign the contract, wait until next year, and then enter the draft again with the hopes of being picked up by a different team.  This is what Eli Manning threatened to do in the 2004 draft when San Diego picked him up. 

Does that make sense?

what??? so this is like a lottery who gets his name picked goes to the club? that's insane! OMG football ftw! (soccer)karlgauci

No. The team with the worst record the previous year gets the first pick. Thats why the Raiders picked first, they won 2 games last year. Meanwhile, the Bears and Colts, who both made it to the Superbowl got the last two picks. The order gets messed up though because of trades. Teams exchange picks for other picks or already drafted players. Teams can also trade for picks in future drafts. If a team wants a 2nd first round pick this year, they can trade their 2008 first round draft pick and other picks from this years draft or any following drafts to get it. Make sense? Of course, the value of a team's first round pick next year is not determined because they don't know where they will get to pick, because it all depends on how well they do this year. 

what??? so this is like a lottery who gets his name picked goes to the club? that's insane! OMG football ftw! (soccer)karlgauci

[QUOTE="karlgauci"]what??? so this is like a lottery who gets his name picked goes to the club? that's insane! OMG football ftw! (soccer)X360PS3AMD05