Roger Goodell appeared on Costas Live on the NBC Sports Network this past Thursday stating that the NFL could possibly go to 34 total teams in the event that they place a franchise in Los Angeles.
Adding such teams would alter the NFL and add another 106 players to active rosters. That means 106 additional players that wouldn’t make NFL teams otherwise.
In the interview, Goodell said that the NFL doesn’t want to move any existing teams to L.A., but would rather create a new franchise. He didn’t mention whether L.A. would host both the 33rd and 34th franchises, though.
There are currently 1,696 players on active rosters in the NFL, but there are more than that who are capable of playing at the NFL level. Many players across the league disappear because teams don’t have faith in their health, age, attitude, etc. But these players can still play the game that they love.
The growing concern is that the games would be less competitive if the league were expanded.
We all learned it when we were eight years old: You were making Kool-Aid or hot chocolate and realized that it takes the right mixture of ingredients for the perfect drink. The last thing you wanted to do was get greedy trying to make larger servings and water down your drink.
That’s what the NFL is risking by adding two additional teams. They can easily water down one of the main things that keeps all the fans tuning in— the competitiveness of the NFL.
I personally sat and suffered watching the Charlotte Bobcats get beaten by 40 points while visiting the Portland Trail Blazers this past week. Any NBA fan could tell you that this Bobcat team isn’t even competitive this season.
That’s the last thing you want to see in the NFL.
Keep in mind, Goodell didn’t say that this will definitely happen. He said that if they place a team in L.A., then the league will expand to 34 teams as they don’t want an odd number of clubs in the league.
So how do you add 106 players without hurting the product?
One solution would be to have some sort of developmental league. The NFL is the only major sport in our country that doesn’t utilize one.
The United Football League may be short on cash, but they have produced a lot of great athletes in the past three seasons. Players who were cut from NFL teams or are working to reach the NFL played in the UFL these past seasons in hopes of reaching the main stage.
Veterans like Jeff Garcia, Dominic Rhodes and Josh McCown are just some of the players who benefited from the league. They were able to stay in football shape while waiting for an NFL team to give them a call.
Meanwhile, players like Isaiah Trufant (younger brother of Seattle Seahawk Marcus Trufant) used the UFL to showcase their talents and demonstrate that they can play professional football at a high level.
In total, more than 100 players left the UFL to join the NFL in the past three seasons.
Imagine if the NFL partnered with the UFL to keep the league afloat and used it to develop players during the offseason. When teams suffer injuries and need replacement players, they’d have a pool of talent that they could select from and already know what they’re getting thanks to the game film.
Sounds like a win-win to me.
If I’m tasked with finding 53 players for my brand-new team, I’d want the chance to see these players in games with pro-style offenses against other professionals that are playing their hearts out. You can only take so much from college tapes, combine results and preseason footage.
If the NFL is looking to expand, it needs to make sure it has the right players to support it.
They’ve taken the first steps by increasing player safety on the field. The next would be to create a developmental system to have players ready if they’re needed.
Fans and investors alike want more football. The NFL just has to make sure it’s good football.
In what has been a troubling couple of months for the United Football League, CBS News reported today that league commissioner Michael Huyghue, who had been commissioner of the league since its inaugural season in 2009, has resigned. In a statement released today, Huyghue said he felt it was "most prudent" that he step down.
Meanwhile, Huyghue also addressed the league's financial situation, saying the UFL had "experienced serious financial issues," all the while the remaining owners and founder Bill Hambrecht continued their search for new investors and locations for teams.
The United Football League has been a site of turmoil since late October, when the league announced they would end their season prematurely as a cost-cutting move in order to assure a fourth season in 2012. Since then, it has been learned that the league has lost more than $100 million over the past two years.
It remains to be seen if the United Football League will be able to reach firm financial footing for the 2012 season, and whether or not the league will continue with their intended expansion plans. Unless things change soon, it looks like no news will be bad news for the United Football League, its players, its coaches and its fans, many of which who are hoping for a transition to playing spring football in the near future.
In regards to the prospects of spring football for the UFL, little to no word has come from Jerry Glanville, the man touted with exploring ventures such as this, as well as expansion possibilities.
Will the UFL field teams for a fourth season? Will the league's owners find enough money to continue forward? And will expansion and a move to the spring continue?
All these questions and more need to be addressed before we can say the UFL is here to stay
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have been searching for a new head coach after firing Raheem Morris. Many names have shown up on the radar.
One of those names, according to ESPN’s Chris Mortensen, is 68-year-old Marty Schottenheimer. Schottenheimer’s last job in the NFL was when he was a head coach for the San Diego Chargers in 2006. He was fired after a 14-2 season.
The veteran coach has not been in the NFL since he was fired, but he has had a coaching job elsewhere. Just last year with the Virginia Destroyers in the United Football League, Schottenheimer won the UFL Championship. It was his first football championship win.
He lead his team to a 4-1 record (including postseason) in a shortened UFL season. His starting running back, Dominic Rhodes, was named the MVP of the 2011 UFL season.
Rhodes gained 410 yards and averaged 5.2 yards per carry in four games. He scored six touchdowns.
The biggest knock on Schottenheimer’s career is that he has failed to deliver in the postseason. His regular season record of 200-126-1 is impressive, but his 5-13 record in the postseason is the reason why San Diego fired him.
Other names that have appeared on the Buccaneers radar are former Minnesota Vikings coach Brad Childress (the Bucs will interview him on Monday, according to Mortensen) and current Houston Texans defensive coordinator Wade Phillips (his interview is Friday).
The leading candidate, however, has been rumored to be former Green Bay coach Mike Sherman.
In any relationship, there is compromise.
Well, at least any successful relationship.
If the United Football League and the National Football League were to have a partnership of any sort, both sides will have to give up some things, change or at least tweak what they’re doing in order to please the other. Only then will both sides be happy with the situation.
It’s no different than your relationship with your significant other or spouse. You know that you hate watching reality television, but they love it. So you compromise with them so that all parties are satisfied. You watch The Amazing Race with them and they’ll watch Glee with you. It’s a win-win.
Unless you’d rather watch Glee alone so that you can sing along without your spouse laughing at you…I’m not speaking from experience. Just an example…
So what does the UFL have to compromise to attract the NFL?
The first thing is the schedule of the season. If they’re going to be a developmental league for the NFL, they have to play in the spring and not the fall. NFL organized team activities begin in May, so ideally you can have the UFL season run for eight or 10 weeks between March and May.
Scheduling it during those times does a few different things for the players. It allows them some recent game tape right in time for NFL camps, and shows scouts that the players are in football shape.
Also, if players are injured during the UFL season, the spring season allows ample time for players to get healthier by the time NFL training camps start in the summer.
Omaha Nighthawk fans may cringe at the thought of a spring league, since that means that TD Ameritrade isn’t an option for the their team. But Rick Meuller, the Nighthawks’ general manager, has already come out and stated that Caniglia Field is an option, and could be expanded to hold 15,000 fans.
Don’t worry Nighthawks fans, it can be done.
On the field, some of the UFL rules and regulations will have to be changed in order to complement what the teams in the NFL are doing.
The blitzing regulations that only allow you to blitz six players on any given pass play are still needed to keep players healthy. However, the UFL will need to start allowing three down linemen formations on defense.
The traditional 3-4 defense is being adopted more and more in the NFL, and if you want to develop players to play in that defense or against that defense, then the UFL will need to adopt it as well.
College players are converted from defensive ends to outside linebackers all the time. But the UFL rules that require four down linemen may prevent scouts from seeing if a defensive end is athletic enough to drop into pass coverage or read an offense.
The same thing happens when evaluating an offensive tackle. If I’m scouting a tackle, I want to see him in situations where a linebacker has a full head of steam before bull-rushing him straight back on his heels.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Everyone wins in a UFL-NFL partnership. The fans win, and both leagues win.
Obviously there are more items that the UFL will have to change, but this will definitely give them a start. I’m sure that both parties will have plenty of PowerPoint slides, graphs and charts demonstrating the needs of both businesses.
It’s just a matter of them hammering out the details so that everyone wins.
Joel Bell started his third straight game at left tackle for the Las Vegas Locomotives this past Saturday. The former Saskatchewan Roughrider spent his Sunday evening going over game film in preparation for next week’s game against the Nighthawks, their second game against them in as many weeks.
“You can’t bring the same thing to each game,” Bell said about facing the Nighthawks twice in a row. “They’re going to try to change up their style, and we just have to focus on our job and we’ll be fine.”
This won’t be the first time Bell has played the same team twice in a row. In 2009, the Saskatchewan Roughriders played the Calgary Stampeders twice in a row, and four times total for the entire season.
“Day to day, good teams win and focus on the little details. Week to week, we have to correct what was wrong with the last game. Whatever technique error, you got to fix it,” Bell explained about his weekly preparation.
Before Saturday night’s game, the Locos signed Tony Ugoh, the former Indianapolis Colts left tackle who has started 27 games in the National Football League. Bell understands that signing a veteran is about business, and doesn’t take it personal.
“You've got to be careful, football is a job, but it’s a business too,” Bell explained. “(The Locos) are going to do whatever it takes to be the best. Every day at practice is a fight to get better and play in the next game.”
Ugoh played at left guard on Saturday, and Bell knows that his presence will only bring the best out of him.
“It encourages you if you’re a good player, it’s not an insult,” he said. “It just makes the competition that more heated. You work together and work on your technique. Players get lackadaisical when there isn’t good competition behind you.”
Not Bell, though. Don’t count on him letting off of the gas as the season continues.
The Locos are striving for another championship and know that a three-peat can happen as long as they play to their potential. They have a road game in Omaha followed by two home games to close out the season. If the Locos plan on playing a seventh game this year, they’ll have to put in work on every snap of every practice and every game.
“I believe God gave me these talents," Bell said. "And I want to glorify him every time I practice and play. I try to do my best in that sense. Because he gave me all these blessings that I don’t deserve.”
Rob Brown is a contributor for Bleacher Report. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained first-hand.
