Should the NFL have a D-League?
Forget about the CFL and Arena Football League because according to FOXSports.com, the NFL has been exploring possible options for a feeder system that would provide NFL teams with a source to develop talent.
Troy Vincent, the NFL’s vice-president of football operations, told FOX Sports:
Our goal is to develop an uninterrupted and qualified pipeline of players, coaches, officials, trainers, front office and other personnel. We believe that new ways to develop the vast pool of football talent is imperative and are considering how that could be done economically and effectively.
The article explains that NFL Europe, which ceased operations in 2007, was essentially a developmental league. It was created with the purpose of exploring international markets and spreading awareness of the sport. Although, the NFL couldn’t compete with the more popular sport, European football, resulting essentially in a league that gave players who weren’t on an NFL roster a chance to continue to play and improve.
FOX Sports makes the argument that an NFL D-League would help to improve the overall pool of players in the NFL (instead of using an eight man practice squad to develop young talent, a team would have an entire depth chart of players training and competing in live games); however, finding a financially viable means to implement such a league is much easier said than done. Check out the article here, Ross Jones gets into the nuts and bolts of the whole thing.
All I have to say – regarding the debate over to d, or not to d – is that NFL Europe may have been a colossal failure, losing $30 million a year, but...it gave us Adam Vinatieri. Believe it or not, he kicked his way through the 1995 for the Amsterdam Admirals.
So, in my book, NFL Europe was a major success that should not only be duplicated but celebrated. $30 million in the hole for Vinatieri? I’ll take that any day. They call him “Mr. Clutch” for a reason – the man has four Super Bowl rings.
Adam Vinatieri; photograph by Jim Davis - boston.com |
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