Neat idea! It would mean that the best players in each conference would be playing to make their own in-conference rivals stronger, but they would also be making their own teams better. I've never watched a Pro Bowl. These stakes might do the trick for me.
February 3, 2014 at 1:07 PM
Anonymous said...
As a compromise, why not have it so that each pick alternates between Pro Bowl winner and PB loser? So, top pick goes to the winner, number two goes to the loser, and so on. Each pick by conference then is determined by W-L record. If I ran an NFL team, I'd like any chance to improve my team's draft spot, so that would be enough to make me care.
Your system is too extreme, as for parity's sake you can't have the NFL's worst team potentially picking in the lower half of the first round. Additionally, the worst teams tend to have few/no Pro Bowlers, so they wouldn't even have power over whether they make out or get screwed.
April 18, 2014 at 11:21 AM
If the NFL wants to boost ratings for the Pro Bowl, they need to make it count for something.
NFL fans are serious. They will show up in sub-zero weather to root for a last-place team. But they won't bother to turn on the TV for an exhibition game that doesn't have any effect on the actual season.
The solution: Give the top draft picks to the conference that wins the Pro Bowl.
Won-Loss records would still be used to rank teams within each conference. But the Pro Bowl winner is guaranteed to get the #1 pick.
For example, this is the current draft order for the 2014 NFL draft:
Pick #TeamPick #Team1Houston Texans (AFC)17Dallas Cowboys (NFC)2St. Louis Rams (NFC)18New York Jets (AFC)3Jacksonville Jaguars (AFC)19Miami Dolphins (AFC)4Cleveland Browns (NFC)20Arizona Cardinals (NFC)5Oakland Raiders (AFC)21Green Bay Packers (NFC)6Atlanta Falcons (NFC)22Philadelphia Eagles (NFC)7Tampa Bay Buccaneers (NFC)23Kansas City Chiefs (AFC)8Minnesota Vikings (NFC)24Cincinnati Bengals (AFC)9Buffalo Bills (AFC)25San Diego Chargers (AFC)10Detroit Lions (NFC)26Indianapolis Colts (AFC)11Tennessee Titans (AFC)27New Orleans Saints (NFC)12New York Giants (NFC)28Carolina Panthers (NFC)13St. Louis Rams (NFC)29New England Patriots (AFC)14Chicago Bears (NFC)30San Francisco 49ers (NFC)15Pittsburgh Steelers (AFC)31Denver Broncos (AFC)16Baltimore Ravens (AFC)32Seattle Seahawks (NFC)
If this rule had been in place, and the AFC had won, this would be the resulting draft order:
Pick #TeamPick #Team1Houston Texans (AFC)17St. Louis Rams (NFC)2Jacksonville Jaguars (AFC)18Atlanta Falcons (NFC)3Cleveland Browns (AFC)19Tampa Bay Buccaneers (NFC)4Oakland Raiders (AFC)20Minnesota Vikings (NFC)5Buffalo Bills (AFC)21Detroit Lions (NFC)6Tennessee Titans (AFC)22New York Giants (NFC)7Pittsburgh Steelers (AFC)23St. Louis Rams (NFC)8Baltimore Ravens (AFC)24Chicago Bears (NFC)9New York Jets (AFC)25Dallas Cowboys (NFC)10Miami Dolphins (AFC)26Arizona Cardinals (NFC)11Kansas City Chiefs (AFC)27Green Bay Packers (NFC)12Cincinnati Bengals (AFC)28Philadelphia Eagles (NFC)13San Diego Chargers (AFC)29New Orleans Saints (NFC)14Indianapolis Colts (AFC)30Carolina Panthers (NFC)15New England Patriots (AFC)31San Francisco 49ers (NFC)16Denver Broncos (AFC)32Seattle Seahawks (NFC)
And this would be the draft order if the NFC had won:
Pick #TeamPick #Team1St. Louis Rams (NFC)17Houston Texans (AFC)2Atlanta Falcons (NFC)18Jacksonville Jaguars (AFC)3Tampa Bay Buccaneers (NFC)19Cleveland Browns (AFC)4Minnesota Vikings (NFC)20Oakland Raiders (AFC)5Detroit Lions (NFC)21Buffalo Bills (AFC)6New York Giants (NFC)22Tennessee Titans (AFC)7St. Louis Rams (NFC)23Pittsburgh Steelers (AFC)8Chicago Bears (NFC)24Baltimore Ravens (AFC)9Dallas Cowboys (NFC)25New York Jets (AFC)10Arizona Cardinals (NFC)26Miami Dolphins (AFC)11Green Bay Packers (NFC)27Kansas City Chiefs (AFC)12Philadelphia Eagles (NFC)28Cincinnati Bengals (AFC)13New Orleans Saints (NFC)29San Diego Chargers (AFC)14Carolina Panthers (NFC)30Indianapolis Colts (AFC)15San Francisco 49ers (NFC)31New England Patriots (AFC)16Seattle Seahawks (NFC)32Denver Broncos (AFC)
This has the additional advantage of eliminating worries about teams "tanking". There's no point in intentionally losing games to get the #1 pick if you might drop to pick #17 after the Pro Bowl.
But, unlike some other other anti-tanking ideas, this system continues to give better picks to weaker teams, to help create parity.
posted by Clay Dreslough at 12:52 PM on Feb 3, 2014
"Making The Pro Bowl Matter"
2 Comments -
Neat idea! It would mean that the best players in each conference would be playing to make their own in-conference rivals stronger, but they would also be making their own teams better. I've never watched a Pro Bowl. These stakes might do the trick for me.
February 3, 2014 at 1:07 PM
As a compromise, why not have it so that each pick alternates between Pro Bowl winner and PB loser? So, top pick goes to the winner, number two goes to the loser, and so on. Each pick by conference then is determined by W-L record. If I ran an NFL team, I'd like any chance to improve my team's draft spot, so that would be enough to make me care.
Your system is too extreme, as for parity's sake you can't have the NFL's worst team potentially picking in the lower half of the first round. Additionally, the worst teams tend to have few/no Pro Bowlers, so they wouldn't even have power over whether they make out or get screwed.
April 18, 2014 at 11:21 AM