http://kev.inburke.com/kevin/the-nfl-oligarchy/ The golden age is before us, not behind us Sat, 04 Feb 2012 16:03:34 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://kev.inburke.com/kevin/the-nfl-oligarchy/comment-page-1/#comment-184 Kiem Thu, 03 Dec 2009 18:41:47 +0000 http://kev.inburke.com/?p=969#comment-184 I feel you, but I have a couple of points. first, its not only the first pick that goes to a bad team. There are usually a good 5 or 6 teams that are just as bad, and you usually get 4 or 5 players that turn out to be great NFL players down the road from that. second, the salary cap prevents teams from paying too much for a player, and this helps even out the teams over the long run. if you look at the only American sport without a salary cap(baseball), you can see the top teams are ALWAYS the top teams, and the yankees have dominated the sport since the early 1920s. this seems remotely similar to the trend that we see in european soccer, at least to me. The worst teams in the NFL right now, such as the Lions and the Rams, were extremely good teams in the early and late 90s, respectively. So I say the draft helps spread out young talent throughout the league. I mean, can you imagine if one team was able to get Wade, Melo, and LeBron to come to their team their rookie year? I feel you, but I have a couple of points. first, its not only the first pick that goes to a bad team. There are usually a good 5 or 6 teams that are just as bad, and you usually get 4 or 5 players that turn out to be great NFL players down the road from that. second, the salary cap prevents teams from paying too much for a player, and this helps even out the teams over the long run. if you look at the only American sport without a salary cap(baseball), you can see the top teams are ALWAYS the top teams, and the yankees have dominated the sport since the early 1920s. this seems remotely similar to the trend that we see in european soccer, at least to me. The worst teams in the NFL right now, such as the Lions and the Rams, were extremely good teams in the early and late 90s, respectively. So I say the draft helps spread out young talent throughout the league. I mean, can you imagine if one team was able to get Wade, Melo, and LeBron to come to their team their rookie year?

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