Yahoo has reported that the NFL decided to pull the plug on NFL Europa, one of the NFL’s feeder leagues. After 15 seasons, the six-team league has disbanded after sustaining financial difficulties. Goodell believes it is a necessary business decision in the best interests of the league. The league will now turn its focus to the NFL’s regular season and utilize technology to reach the international audience.
Also of note, the NFL’s Supplemental Draft will take place on July 12. For those of you who haven’t heard of this draft or don’t know exactly what it is, it’s for a reason, as it has played a minor role in building NFL rosters over the years.
The Supplemental Draft, unlike the main Draft, is purely optional and no team is required to make a selection. The Draft’s purpose is to afford those underclassmen who did not apply for early entry in the April Draft (prior to the January deadline) and are currently ineligible for the current NCAA season, a chance to enter the league.
Only 34 players have been taken in this draft since the NFL instituted it in 1977. Most notably, Bernie Kosar (Cleveland’s first round pick in 1985), Cris Carter (Philly’s fourth round pick in 1987), and Ahmad Brooks (Cincinnati’s third round pick in last year’s draft, which only contained 7 players).
-Matthew Allinson
3 replies on “NFL Europa & The NFL Supplemental Draft”
I have a lot to say on these issues:
First, NFL Europe’s fall. It was definitely a financial decision, and now the NFL can move more regular season games overseas (starting with the Dolphins/Giants game this season). NFL Europe was losing $30 million a year, so it makes perfect business sense to fold the league, but will American cities be happy with losing scheduled games? Season ticket holders surely will not be happy. I live in South Florida, and there has been a lot of moaning over losing a home game to England this year.
But where will talent that is not NFL ready go now? The Canadian Football league should get better talent and the AFL (Arena Football League) will also get bigger names (I am sure that ESPN is very happy about this). Will an official Minor League Football system emerge?
Now onto the Supplemental Draft. As of June 25, there had only been 3 entrants into the draft (http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2916025&campaign=rss&source=ESPNHeadlines). A very important point of the draft: “Any team that selects a player in the supplemental draft will forfeit its corresponding pick in the 2008 draft.”
Want more information on how the Supplemental Draft actually works? http://football.about.com/od/miscinformation/a/supplementdraft.htm
It will be very interesting to see where the bulk of NFL Europe’s players end up. CFL? Or will NFL teams be forced to make cuts to bring in some of the talent that has been developing in Europe?…
John Elway may be interested in making the AFL the official Minor League of the NFL..
http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/2007/07/02/john-elway-wants-arena-football-to-become-the-official-minor-lea/