Ingtar- I have a player development question

[Dozerdog]

What is your opinion on NFLE?


Is it a joke or is it valuable in developing young players?

Will it last? It gets poor crowds.

Any thought to moving up the NFL draft a month, maybe, and getting some of the later round picks over there the same year they are drafted. Same goes for UFA.


We had a lot of 6/7th rd picks not make the roster. Do you think a Kevin Thomas could have benefited (the CB from Nevada, i think) or a Bostic?

Then again, we saw Curtis Alexander dominate there and he didn't get a sniff in camp.

[Cntrygal]

[HenryRules]

I know this is addressed to someone else, but I just thought I'd get it started with my opinion. Personally, I think the benefits of NFLE depends on the player's position. Something like RB or LB is way to physically demanding IMO to play a season in NFLE and then the NFL. By the end of the 2 seasons as an RB, your body would be really beat up and you'd have to be very concerned about long-term problems that would develop - I think this is one of the main reasons nobody cared to even take a look at Alexander. However, something like QB, where they may only get hit one time out of the entire year in the NFL as a backup, they could probably complete a season in NFLE and then be a backup in the NFL (assuming they're not hitting backup QB's in practice - I dunno if this is the case). For QB's I really think that it would be beneficial to play in NFLE, as long as the offenses are somewhat similar. If there's a large difference between the two offensive systems, the players may end up having to spend too much time re-familiarizing themselves with the NFL team's offense to be of any help to them in the near future - although long-term it would still be beneficial to play in NFLE.
Basically, I think NFLE is beneficial for positions where intelligence and decision-making plays a large role (i.e. QB), however for positions where technique is more important (i.e. OL, DL) or are more physically demanding (i.e. RB) I think you're better served by being a backup in the NFL, getting better coaching, and going against better competition in practice, than playing in NFLE where due to the bad coaching and inferior opposition you may develop bad habits.

[Ingtar33]

Sorry, just saw this post... HR is completely in line with my thinking, NFLE is really only good for the QBs, or maybe the physical specimens who need to learn a little football instincts. C. Alexander was too slow and small for the NFL, and while he has good instincts for running, without the speed he would not cut it in the NFL (although he does dominate in NFLE).

The NFL draft is very deep in 2 of the 3 positions we "must have" FS & OLB. Lucky for us, we should get good value with both those positions in rounds 2-4 (that’s how deep both positions are this year). With smart drafting TD can fill our needs in those two positions reducing our FA needs to two (an OLB and a DT) players and maybe even allowing us to keep Price. Since the draft is so deep there, the need to trade up is simply not there this year, as any impact player we could get higher in the draft would only be marginally better (for OLB and FS) than what we could get standing pat. At DT, we would have to get into the top 5 to get an instant difference make as neither of the top two DT look like they'll last past the top 5 picks.