RunOJRun Posted January 17, 2011 Share Posted January 17, 2011 A week or two ago, ESPN's Mike & Mike suggested that a team with a high first round pick could draft Andrew Luck this year and then have his rights in 2012, much as the Boston Celtics drafted Larry Bird a year before he entered the NBA. I think this would be a great move for the Bills. The only thing lost is the onfield value that a 2011 first rounder would bring in 2011 (a year which isn't likely to be a playoff year for the Bills, anyway). There really aren't any other downsides, except for the possibility that Luck suffers a career-ending injury next season. In 2012, one of two things happens. 1) The Bills get their franchise QB and likely contend for the playoffs for the next 10-20 years, possibly making our dreams come true somewhere along the line by winning their first Super Bowl. 2) If Luck pulls a John Elway/Eli Manning, the Bills front office leverages the rights to Andrew Luck to improve their position for years to come. Given the commonly-held assumption that Luck is the best QB prospect since Peyton Manning, things could get messy if the Bills refuse to trade his rights. Knowing this, the Bills can demand a king's ransom from both the team they deal with...and the NFL itself. The Bills can demand a nice package of 1st & 2nd round picks and/or active players from any team they trade with. Really, why settle for only draft picks with this kind of bargaining position? Go to your trading partner and demand any two players of the Bills' choosing on their active roster. But there's a bigger concession to be had, and that's one which the NFL front office can give. Bill Belichick may be the greatest head coach in the history of the NFL. Taking the Pats to an 11-5 record with Matt Cassel was a remarkable accomplishment. Rex Ryan has turned the Jets around and they look to be a strong contender for years to come. Both are relatively young men and could likely cause headaches for the Bills for another 20 years. If Luck refuses to sign with the Bills, the Bills should demand a move to the AFC North as a condition of trading the rights to Andrew Luck. Around a month or two ago, an NFL front office rep said on ESPN (Mike & Mike again) that the league wants to add a few expansion teams in a few years. With some divisional realignment required with the addition of new teams, it would be easy to move the Bills to AFC North and either put a new team or existing east coast team in the AFC East to replace them. This would also make financial sense for the Bills, Steelers, and Browns. Empty seats at "home & home" games could easily be scooped up by fans of the road team willing to make the reasonable drive to see their team play. (Personally, I think that it also makes financial sense to move the Ravens to the AFC East, since Baltimore and Jersey are fairly close to each other and can get that same "home & home" ticket sales benefit, but the perception of Steelers/Ravens as a strong rivalry makes that move unlikely, despite the fact that the Bills and Ravens switching divisions makes perfect geographic and economic sense.) If the Bills draft Luck, either outcome brightens the Bills' future immensely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buffalo Barbarian Posted January 17, 2011 Share Posted January 17, 2011 Sounds good, but can you draft a guy who hasn't declared. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benderbender Posted January 17, 2011 Share Posted January 17, 2011 Luck decided to return to Stanford Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RunOJRun Posted January 17, 2011 Author Share Posted January 17, 2011 Luck decided to return to Stanford But if you can draft an undeclared college player who's going back for his senior year for the purpose of having his rights when he does come out a year later, it's a great move for the Bills. Mike & Mike seemed to think that a team could do this (Granted, neither works for the NFL, so they could have been wrong). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1B4IDie Posted January 17, 2011 Share Posted January 17, 2011 (edited) But if you can draft an undeclared college player who's going back for his senior year for the purpose of having his rights when he does come out a year later, it's a great move for the Bills. Mike & Mike seemed to think that a team could do this (Granted, neither works for the NFL, so they could have been wrong). If this were possible, which I doubt. Then the Bills without question should do that. However I do not think the NFL works like the NBA did in 1979. The Boston Celtics selected the 6'9", 220-pound Bird 6th overall in the 1978 NBA Draft,[11][12] even though they were uncertain whether he would enter the NBA or remain at Indiana State to play his senior season. Bird ultimately decided to play his final college season, but the Celtics retained their exclusive right to sign him until the 1979 NBA Draft, because of the NBA's "junior eligible" rule that existed at that time (allowing a collegiate player to be drafted when the player's original "entering" class was graduating and giving them one calendar year to sign them, even if they went back to college). Shortly before that deadline, Bird agreed to sign with the Celtics for a US $650,000 a year contract, making him at the time the highest-paid rookie in the history of the NBA. Shortly afterwards, the NBA draft eligibility rules were changed to prevent teams from drafting players before they were ready to sign. The rule is called the Bird Collegiate Rule. Edited January 17, 2011 by Why So Serious? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Koufax Posted January 17, 2011 Share Posted January 17, 2011 I'm calling bull**** on this, and that you cannot draft a player who has not declared and sign him after his following college year. Otherwise we have been wasting our 7th rounders by not taking the top guys from the next draft. No need to waste a #3 pick! Take the two best players coming out the following year with our 6th and 7th rounders! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bangarang Posted January 17, 2011 Share Posted January 17, 2011 Yeah...this can't happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoSaint Posted January 17, 2011 Share Posted January 17, 2011 I'm calling bull**** on this, and that you cannot draft a player who has not declared and sign him after his following college year. Otherwise we have been wasting our 7th rounders by not taking the top guys from the next draft. No need to waste a #3 pick! Take the two best players coming out the following year with our 6th and 7th rounders! They can enter the draft next year, but you could theoretically sign them in January before the draft. Similar to discussions around the holdout of crabtree, but as he declared, he couldn't play college ball. Your proposal would totally screw up your rookie pool as those guys would all want 70mill and you just can't give that based on the -granted very loose- NFL rookie pay guidelines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nasty Posted January 17, 2011 Share Posted January 17, 2011 I'm calling bull**** on this, and that you cannot draft a player who has not declared and sign him after his following college year. Otherwise we have been wasting our 7th rounders by not taking the top guys from the next draft. No need to waste a #3 pick! Take the two best players coming out the following year with our 6th and 7th rounders! I agree with you, if teams could do this all the talent from the next years class would be gone in the late rounds which would make the draft utterly boring.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PromoTheRobot Posted January 17, 2011 Share Posted January 17, 2011 10 to 20 years? Are we getting a little carried away? How many NFL QBs play for 20 years? PTR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beast34 Posted January 17, 2011 Share Posted January 17, 2011 In the NFL if a drafted player does not sign their rookie contract before the next years draft they are re-entered into the draft, the same rule as a hold-out, so its a wasted pick. Also signing the contract would involve getting an agent and receiving pay which would make the player ineligible to play in college. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
truth on hold Posted January 17, 2011 Share Posted January 17, 2011 Yeah...this can't happen. if its possible, then use your 4th thru 7th on the top 4 projected prospects for next year Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbb Posted January 17, 2011 Share Posted January 17, 2011 How did we have Howard Ballard in some similar way. I think it was in '88 that we knew he was coming to us (if he signed), but he was still playing college ball.......Anyone remember how that one worked? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPS Posted January 17, 2011 Share Posted January 17, 2011 How did we have Howard Ballard in some similar way. I think it was in '88 that we knew he was coming to us (if he signed), but he was still playing college ball.......Anyone remember how that one worked? You beat me to it. The Bills drafted Howard Ballard in the 11th round (I think), knowing that he was going to return to school for his 5th year of NCAA eligibility. And just like Bird, they signed him after his season, but before the next draft. Polian was heralded a genius (which he was/is) and the NFL closed that loophole the following year. For what it's worth, I cut this quote oute of a 1995 newspaper article that was not worth reading "The NFL requires those filing for its draft to renounce their eligibility to discourage players from returning to school if they don't like their draft positions or pro teams." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KRT88 Posted January 17, 2011 Share Posted January 17, 2011 (edited) But if you can draft an undeclared college player who's going back for his senior year for the purpose of having his rights when he does come out a year later, it's a great move for the Bills. Mike & Mike seemed to think that a team could do this (Granted, neither works for the NFL, so they could have been wrong). I doubt that would be allowed but I just looked up the Larry Bird thing and it said "because of the NBA's junior eligibility rule" meaning the league had a rule saying this could be done. Then the league saw the issue and changed the rule after this happened. Plus if the Bills were to to try this, I would bet they'd have to sue the league. Once that happened, it would be a major stp forward in the doing away of the draft altogether. Rookie would say, what's the point of declaring, they can pick me anyway. Some lawyer would sue the league and end the draft so rookie have greater rights. I wouldn't want to be the one that opened that can of worms. but correct me if I'm wrong, Luck was a redshirt softmore this year. Meaning he has 2 more years of college eligibility left, so he could simply stay in school after next year simply because he oesn't want to go to Buffalo. I find a better idea than this. Edited January 17, 2011 by KRT88 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2003Contenders Posted January 17, 2011 Share Posted January 17, 2011 You beat me to it. The Bills drafted Howard Ballard in the 11th round (I think), knowing that he was going to return to school for his 5th year of NCAA eligibility. And just like Bird, they signed him after his season, but before the next draft. Polian was heralded a genius (which he was/is) and the NFL closed that loophole the following year. For what it's worth, I cut this quote oute of a 1995 newspaper article that was not worth reading "The NFL requires those filing for its draft to renounce their eligibility to discourage players from returning to school if they don't like their draft positions or pro teams." Additionally, I believe that drafted players have until Week 10 to sign with the team that drafted them -- otherwise, they go back into the draft the following year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobobonators Posted January 17, 2011 Share Posted January 17, 2011 10 to 20 years? Are we getting a little carried away? How many NFL QBs play for 20 years? PTR LOL..a little carried away? Did you read the rest of his post? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. WEO Posted January 17, 2011 Share Posted January 17, 2011 You beat me to it. The Bills drafted Howard Ballard in the 11th round (I think), knowing that he was going to return to school for his 5th year of NCAA eligibility. And just like Bird, they signed him after his season, but before the next draft. Polian was heralded a genius (which he was/is) and the NFL closed that loophole the following year. For what it's worth, I cut this quote oute of a 1995 newspaper article that was not worth reading "The NFL requires those filing for its draft to renounce their eligibility to discourage players from returning to school if they don't like their draft positions or pro teams." He's already missed the deadline to declare anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thoner7 Posted January 17, 2011 Share Posted January 17, 2011 This used to be possible but no longer is – as a few mentioned in some prior posts. But we theoretically could draft him this year, or at least plot to. We could try to trade around in this draft to acquire picks in next years draft. Generally, teams view a current 2nd rounder as a 1st in the next years draft., a 3rd this year as a 2nd next year, and so on. With a draft being split up into 3 days, we will have an entire evening to talk to teams about our 2nd round (34th overall) pick. Because its so high in the 2nd we could have a great opportunity to trade that pick for a 2012 1st rounder. We could also look to trade back from 3 and only ask for a 2012 1st rounder as compensation. Obviously its all just talk cause you need a partner but we could look to stockpile picks in 2012 and look to trade for the top selection if we don’t get it all on our own! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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