An alternative draft idea

[Rain Man]

This is prefaced on having a rookie draft salary cap and salary scale, so first, imagine that every team has the same amount of rookie money to spend. And they have to spend that money. The can't leave it on the table.

Next, imagine that we have 160 or so price levels for rookies. These roughly correspond to the slotting levels we have now by draft pick. They aren't negotiable because it's a rookie salary scale.

Now imagine that we don't have a draft.

Starting in March or thereabouts, we begin a bidding process.

We start at Price Level 160, which is the cost of a #1 pick. The league opens the floor for bidding at the 160 level. What teams would like to nominate a player at that price? If they do, and no one else bids on that player, they get him for that price. If multiple teams bid, the team with the worst record (old-time draft order) gets him.

This is an open bid process where all teams submit their list at the same time, and when the names are posted, other teams can then come back in and add the names of any players who have been nominated. So if for example the first bid goes and the Bears and Bengals both nominate Cam Newton, other teams can also throw their names in the hat for Cam with this new information. However, in the end the team with the worst record gets him.

We then move to Price Level 159. It's the exact same process, but with one twist. Let's say that the Lions, Cardinals, and Browns all submit the name of Patrick Peterson. Other teams can then toss their name in the hat afterwards as normal, so imagine that the Vikings and Packers also bid. However, instead of Patrick automatically going to the worst team, those five teams all have the opportunity of bidding up a price level to 160. Among those who do, the worst team gets him at a 160. If none do, the worst team gets him at 159.

For lower levels, every time there's a tie the bidding moves up. So let's say we're at Price Level 130. The Chiefs, Jets, Falcons, Broncos, and Texans all bid 130 for Bruce Carter. Bidding then moves to 131, and the Chiefs, Jets, and Texans go up. It then moves to 132, and the Chiefs and Jets match. It then moves to 133. Neither team matches, so Bruce goes to the Chiefs at a price of 132.

You don't have to have one player at each price level. Maybe no one gets signed at 120, but four players get signed at 118. It's an efficient market because everyone pays exactly what they want to pay.




The advantages of this system are:

All teams have a chance of getting any player, other than the case where the worst team goes for the top price on a player.

Teams can budget their money and go with different strategies. A team can blow their wad by paying big money to a couple of good guys or they can get a whole bunch of lower-tier players for low price levels if they don't bid high.

Trades involving players would still work because you would trade rookie salary cap space instead of picks. You could also trade cap space across years if you wanted.

It would work well for the players because they would maximize their value. If more teams want them, they move up the scale during the bidding. They're also more likely to end up on a team that's a good fit for them.

It would work well for the teams because they can target players they want and if they're willing to pay for them they'll get them.

It would let the talent dictate the pricing. If the talent level is high, the bidding is higher (and probably fewer low-end players get picked). If the talent level is low, maybe there's not a lot of high-dollar bidding and you get more players signed at the middle and lower pricing levels.

Plus, it would be loads of fun. You'd have a draft that would last much of the offseason with news every day and maneuvering every day.

What do you think?