Recently I wrote my thoughts on this year’s class that will be inducted into college football’s hall of fame. Along with the celebratory tone that goes with such an announcement comes the analysis of who is getting in, who didn’t get in and who didn’t get in that should already be in. With that in mind, these are the players that I believe already should be in the college football hall of fame, as well as players who should forever be on the radar as far as getting into the hall of fame is concerned. This list will focus on the 80′s as it is the decade furthest in the past that I have a great deal of knowledge and have seen a great deal of the games and great players thanks to ESPN Classic and YouTube.

Raghib “Rocket” Ismail, WR/KR, Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Because he never played one position full-time is the only reason I can possibly see how this man isn’t in the hall already. All of those who follow college football either know the name or have heard the name. Because of how he played and where he went to college, it’s impossible for you to have not heard of this man’s name before. That aside, The Rocket covered the All-American qualifications, was part of a national title team and nearly two others, nearly won the Heisman Trophy in 1990. He was a star during his three years playing for the Fighting Irish with his star and stature in the college football world growing each season.

Eric Dickerson, RB, SMU Mustangs
This is where that moral high ground stuff comes into play as far as hall of fame inductions are concerned. I’ll get to that in more detail later, but I’ll just say that the transgressions of the school is what will likely always keep Dickerson out. I hope not because I’ve always been more of the mindset that a hall of fame should honor the best who played the sport as well as the history of the sport. Put in the details of the SMU scandal if you want, but this guy should be inducted.

Derrick Thomas, LB, Alabama Crimson Tide
This one has always been the consensus choice for most puzzling snub when it comes to college football’s hall of fame. Can’t really argue with that. Thomas’ 1988 season not only still ranks as one of the best defensive seasons in college football history, but only gets more impressive with each passing year. His career numbers and Butkus Award in ’88 should warrant induction, especially with the anti-defensive nature of college football today.

Lorenzo White, RB, Michigan St. Spartans
This one is a bit of a puzzlement to me. It’s likely that White not being a star on the national stage is what is keeping him out because, as is the trend in this article, his qualifications seem solid enough. White was a two-time All-American, ran for over 2,000 yards in 1985, was the first Big-Ten player to ever do so and lead the nation in rushing yards in that ’85 season.

Mark Carrier, S, USC Trojans
Being part of one of the golden children of college football (the most famous/prestigious/winningest programs) during a successful period in their history and being a key player in that success should get you into the hall of fame, right? Not in the case of Carrier, a two-time All-American and only Jim Thorpe Award winner in Trojans’ history. Carrier was part of the 1988 Trojans team that won ten games and the 1989 team that won the Rose Bowl, with conference titles both seasons and a near national title in ’88.

LaDainian Tomlinson, RB, TCU Horned Frogs
As far as a first-ballot inductee goes, Tomlinson would have been absolutely perfect for the 2013 class. As someone who saw Tomlinson play on T.V. with the Horned Frogs as a child, in awe at times I might add, this snub angers me a bit. Only a bit because if he gets in next year it’ll only be one year too many that he was kept out. As long as his induction doesn’t get delayed too long I can live with him not getting in this year.

But seriously, how could he have not gotten in this year? His 2000 season was one for the record books both figuratively and literally with Tomlinson leading the nation in rushing yards and winning the Doak Walker Award. And then there was the 1999 season where Tomlinson lead the nation in rushing yards (out-gaining 2013 inductee Ron Dayne) and set the NCAA record for rushing yards in a game with his 406-yard performance against the UTEP Miners.

One other name that would otherwise be a slam-dunk, easy first ballot choice for the hall that I didn’t mention as needing to be inducted is Brian Bosworth. Bosworth would have been inducted years ago if induction was solely about on-the-field achievement and excellence. At Oklahoma, Bosworth personified that on the field during his three seasons in Norman with the All-American honors and awards to back it up. However, the steroid scandal that surrounded his exit from the college game will forever keep him out of the hall of fame in my opinion. In this case, I don’t have a problem with it. I love watching film of Boz and the Sooners during that period, but what got him into trouble was something involving performance enhancement. That is something I am okay with using as reason to keep someone out of a hall of fame when it is confirmed, as it was in Bosworth’s case.

I am hoping that Dickerson ends up getting into the hall within the next five to seven years. If he doesn’t, then I believe the argument is going to shift from Dickerson to Reggie Bush as far as awesome running backs not getting into the hall due to a major scandal during their playing days involving payments to players. That means that Dickerson may never get in.

This is the kind of thing I don’t believe should exclude players from induction. Yes it’s cheating in recruiting of athletes, but to me that’s as far as it goes. They cheated to get the player and should be punished for that, but don’t lose perspective. Just because you bought the player or players doesn’t automatically mean you are going to be a successful team. There are plenty (and I mean plenty) of instances where bought players helped produce winning teams. But don’t think that buying players never backfired on a team.

In the end, on-the-field achievement and excellence should weigh the most for induction because it is what is around forever. Once it’s happened, it’s happened, and it’s a matter of record with no amount of erasing wins after the fact being able to change that. If a hall of fame is about the game’s history, these kinds of players need to get in because they represent the game’s history and greatness within the game the same as the people who have been inducted. The only difference is their stories are a little darker, and I say, “so what?” All the stories of the game’s greats need to be told.

Every year a new group of men who played or coached college football are welcomed into its hall of fame. This year’s class was one that featured a posthumous selection, a veterans committee selection, and at least one selection from the 1950′s, 60′s, 70′s, 80′s, and 90′s. However, the class of 2013 is one that focuses more on football from the 90′s than anything else.

Of the 14 inductees, six of them played or coached prominently during the 90′s, and these are some pretty big names from that time in college football. So much so that you could almost tell the history of college football in that decade through this year’s inductees that played or coached in it.

At the beginning of the 90′s there was Bill McCartney and his Colorado Buffaloes on top of college football sharing the first national title of the decade and appearing in two Fiesta Bowls in the years before McCartney’s retirement after the 1994 season. That season that may have been McCartney’s best in Boulder. During this same period, Tedy Bruschi lead an Arizona Wildcats defense that made a few waves by only giving up 8 points to a defending co-champion Miami (FL) Hurricanes team and later beating the top-ranked and defending co-champion Washington Huskies in 1992. They followed this up by shutting out the Hurricanes in the 1994 Fiesta Bowl and began the ’94 season as Sports Illustrated’s #1 team in college football.

During the middle of the 90′s, Tommy Frazier was quarterbacking the Nebraska Cornhuskers to three straight national championship games with titles in 1994 and ’95. Frazier also nearly won the Heisman Trophy in ’95. For me, Frazier’s long touchdown run after breaking nearly ten tackles (literally) in the 1996 Fiesta Bowl is still one of my favorite plays of all-time in football at any level.

The title that got away from Frazier and the Cornhuskers is historically important because it was against the Florida St. Seminoles and gave Bobby Bowden his first national title one year before Tom Osbourne finally got his first. At the same time, Danny Wuerffel was leading the Florida Gators in a few of the most memorable and historically important games of the decade, all of those being against Florida St. Frazier and the Cornhuskers repeated as national champions at Wuerffel’s expense in ’95 only for Wuerffel to come back in ’96, win the Heisman Trophy and then win the national title when given a second chance against Florida St. that season.

Just beneath all of that, Orlando Pace was making a name for himself at Ohio St. during the mid-90′s as the best offensive lineman in college football and was on his way to becoming a #1 draft pick in the NFL. His blocking helped Eddie George to a Heisman Trophy in ’95, not to mention that the Buckeyes were routinely in the top 5 during Pace’s time in Columbus. Pace went out a winner in the Rose Bowl, helping the Buckeyes to victory and preventing the Arizona St. Sun Devils from winning at least a share of the national title at the same time.

And then there was the great Ron Dayne. Remember, we’re talking about the college football hall of fame here. You have to understand, as someone who still lives in Wisconsin, the late-1990′s were a very fun time to be a football fan. Not only were the Green Bay Packers appearing in Super Bowls and conference title games, but the Wisconsin Badgers were going to Rose Bowl games. And on top of it all, here came this big dude running through holes and just through people while aided by the usual big and talented offensive line the Badgers were producing under Barry Alvarez.

Dayne ended up setting the all-time rushing record in FBS college football, breaking the record in his Heisman Trophy season of 1999. He also ran for 200 yards twice in the Rose Bowl. Dayne’s biggest accomplishment to me was becoming famous, and making the team a name in the process, on a national level.

In the end there are two Heisman Trophy winners, four national titles, numerous major bowl appearances, and a pretty good picture of what the 1990′s were about when it came to the big winners in college football. Some spots of that picture aren’t colored in yet, but the picture is already becoming pretty clear.

It’s not that this year’s inductees from other decades weren’t any good, far from it. In fact, Vinnie Testaverde was one of the best inductees of this whole class. To this day it still amazes me to go through history and have to find out all over again that Vinnie never won a bowl game while at The U. Everyone remembers The Fatigues Game against Penn St. in the Fiesta Bowl for the title, but Vinnie ended up 0-2 in national title situations while going 22-1 in the regular season. An easy pick for induction.

I’ve always been in favor of a separate committee made up of former players for any sport’s hall of fame. So obviously I enjoyed seeing that there was a Veterans Committee selection into this year’s class. That selection this year was Steve Meilinger who played end at Kentucky from 1951-53.

The other coaching inductee this year was Wayne Hardin. Hardin is someone who’s work I’m vaguely familiar with. I am aware of his job in the 1960′s with the Navy Midshipmen where he coached them to appearances in the Orange Bowl and Cotton Bowl, Roger Staubach won the Heisman Trophy under Hardin, and the Midshipmen nearly won a national title with Hardin as coach. With the Temple Owls, Hardin guided thm to their first bowl win as a team, and it turned out to be their last for over 30 years.

Other inductions were before my time, but I do take note of Jerry Gray, Rod Shoate, and Percy Snow‘s inductions. Gray was a defensive back for a very good Texas Longhorns team in the early 80′s that nearly won a national title, Shoate was this year’s posthumous inductee with two national titles during his time as a linebacker for the Oklahoma Sooners in the mid-1970′s, and Snow was a linebacker for the Michigan St. Spartans on their last Big-Ten championship team (1987) as well as the team that won the 1988 Rose Bowl.

All in all it was a good job by the selection committee in producing a good list of worthy inductees. There are still those players & coaches that should have been inducted this year or should have been inducted already. But you know what, that’s another topic for another day.

Free agent DB Ronde Barber announced on Wednesday that he would not be returning for an 18th season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The handwriting was on the wall for Barber after the Buccaneers moved aggressively this offseason to repair their biggest flaw during the 2012 season, the secondary. After trading for CB Darrelle Revis, signing free agent S Dashon Goldson and drafting CB Johnthan Banks, Barber’s future with the Buccaneers seemed cloudy.

Tampa did not pressure Barber to make his decision on any timetable. Apparently no other team reached out to Barber with any interest of signing the record setting corner this offseason. It was always assumed that Barber would return to the Buccaneers for one more season or simply retire. He made his decision on Wednesday, he’ll be walking away from the game he so passionately loves.

Barber redefined the way corners play in the Tampa-2 defense and arguably filled that role better than anyone else. A third-round pick out of Virginia, Barber is the only player in NFL history with at least 40 interceptions and 25 sacks. He appeared in 215 consecutive games for the Buccaneers, while appearing in 242 total games (the most in Buccaneers history). He will forever be remembered for the biggest play in Tampa Bay Buccaneers history, a 92-yard interception of Philadelphia Eagles QB Donovan McNabb in the team’s 27-10 victory which sent them to Super Bowl XXXVII.

Head coach Greg Schiano openly stated that Barber would be welcomed back in 2013 but as the offseason progressed, it became clear that his role on the defense would change greatly. Last season, the Buccaneers moved Barber out of his traditional corner role and into a safety position. He responded well, becoming the team’s third leading tackler with 82 and leading the team in interceptions at four. Barber was named as an alternated to the NFC Pro Bowl roster.

There is no doubt that Barber would have been able to play at a high level in 2013 but it’s not clear if his diminished role played a part in his decision. He would more than likely have filled the role of player/coach with just spot duties assigned to him. Riding the bench and participating in perhaps just 15-20 plays a game would simply not do for the highly competitive Barber.

Barber told Jay Glazer of FOX Sports on Wednesday, “I’ve had a better run than I ever could’ve dreamed of having.” 47 interceptions, 28 sacks and 1,476 career tackles later, Buccaneers fans would have to agree. The last question surrounding Barber’s career is whether or not he achieved enough on the field to warrant a trip to Canton.

Although his veteran leadership will be missed on the field, Barber made a wide decision to retire rather than to accept a diminished role where the majority of his season would play out on the sidelines.

Former Dallas Cowboys running back Felix Jones has generated little interest this free agency period. In just his second visit as a free agent, Jones worked out for the Philadelphia Eagles on Tuesday. Last month, the running back worked out for the Cincinnati Bengals.

Jones has struggled to stay on the field in his career, seemingly always battling some sort of injury. While playing a full slate of games for just the second time in his career last season, Jones posted a 3.6 yards per carry average, the lowest in his five seasons in the league.

It’s doubtful that the Eagles would have any genuine interest in signing Jones with LeSean McCoy and Bryce Brown already on the roster. He will likely remain a free agent until teams report to training camps later this summer and could join another club due to injury issues with another player.

Former Detroit Lions wide receiver Titus Young was arrested twice on Sunday. Originally, Young was arrested shortly after midnight Sunday for suspicion of drunk driving. According to The Oakland Press, Young was then arrested later in the day when he attempted to steal his own vehicle from a police impound lot. He was arrested for the second time in 15 hours and charged with burglary.

Young had a very short lived, rocky NFL career. He was released by the Lions on February 4 of this season. A legend in his own mind, Young was a disruptive force on and off the field while with the Lions. He admitted to purposely lining up in the wrong formation and running the wrong routes in order to disrupt the Detroit offense. He felt he was not getting the ball often enough. Young also had an altercation with Lions teammate Louis Delmas.

After being cut by the Lions, Young was quickly snatched off the waiver wire by the St. Louis Rams. The second chance Young might have been hoping for in the league was short lived however, as the Rams released him just a few days later.

Quarterback Tim Tebow remains unemployed in the NFL but one of the most recognizable personalities in the State of Florida is now taking to the airwaves in an attempt to convince the Jacksonville Jaguars they need to acquire him for the 2013 season. Orlando based personal trial attorney John Morgan, of the law firm Morgan and Morgan is purchasing television  advertisements trying to convince Jaguars owner Shahid Khan to bring Tebow back to his hometown.

Anyone living in Florida is familiar with Morgan. You cannot escape him, he’s everywhere. Billboards. Radio. Television. He’s usually on the back cover of local phonebook as well. He saturates every Florida market. His wife is an attorney at the firm. He even employs the former governor of Florida, Charlie Crist.

His advertisements come off in a very benign manner, illustrating that he is the hardest working attorney in the state and he’s doing all this hard work, “for the people”, his signature tagline. Of course his advertisements outline just all the various ways people of Florida can sue everyone else and his firm generates a very healthy cut of everything they recover “for the people”.

The purchase of these ads, which will be run in the Jacksonville market, are not on accident. Morgan is a graduate of the University of Florida, Tebow’s alma mater.

Tebow has been linked to the Jaguars for some time now, but the team continues to deny interest. Morgan even throws out a jab at the Jaguars owner, stating that if he signed the southpaw, he’d buy a luxury box at the stadium.

Morgan has become one of the largest power brokers in the State of Florida by utilizing the airwaves, now let’s see just how powerful he really is and whether or not he can influence an owner of an NFL franchise into changing his mind. You can watch the ad for yourself.

Despite an orchestrated movement this offseason in order to get the Washington Redskins to change their name and/or logo, it appears that most fans are just fine with the current team’s appearance. Political correctness has wormed it’s way into just about every facet of society in recent years, and team names are front and center on their radar.

The NBC owned Profootballtalk.com has been front and center this offseason when it comes to political/social  issues such as gay players coming out and they have been fairly aggressive on forcing a change for the Washington Redskins.

Mike Florio, the founder of PFT.com, has spent a lot of time this offseason focusing his posts on the potential re-naming the Redskins, the possibility of gay players coming out in the NFL arena, and Tim Tebow.

Florio writes this afternoon, seemingly much to his disgust, that fans are not in favor of changing the Redskins name. He starts his piece by writing, “The push against the Redskins name has intensified in recent weeks. Public opinion has yet to follow.” Mr. Florio, the only place that the move to intensify the move to change the name has been in the media. It started in the DC media, and you have picked this movement up and run with it now that you and your website are employees of NBC Sports.

If you click on the link above, Florio writes an article which cites a couple of polls, (with no links) and then a couple of unnamed sources. He quotes two people. “one person polled last month” and “another person”. I can find lots of “other people” to comment on this issue.

While Florio cites two polls, without a link to them, claiming that 79% and 89% of people don’t want to see a Redskins name change, he still is pushing this politically correct agenda.

This is another story trying to dredge up a lingering issue that many in the main stream media will have you believe is a major issue.  I appreciate the fact that Daniel Snyder, according to Florio, will not be changing the name as long as he owns the team. Not a Redskins fan, but I appreciate Synder’s resolve. The media does not have to force a name change on a team simply because they believe it’s politically correct.

As the NFL moves towards a new paradigm in their game, focusing on the passing aspect of offensive schemes, the value of running backs have been greatly reduced in fantasy football circles. When I started playing fantasy football, over 20 years ago, great focus was placed on the player that touched the ball the most on offense, and some drafts in the 1990′s consisted of all running backs in the first-round. Times have changed, and so have the drafting philosophies.

As we prepare for the 2013 fantasy football season, many players in various leagues are going to take either Arian Foster, Adrian Peterson or  Alfred Morris as the first overall running back. I say let them. I like Doug Martin this year as the top back. At this point in the year, and I stress, AT THIS POINT, I like Martin, Morris, Peterson and Foster in that order.

Martin is firmly entrenched in a run oriented offense under second-year head coach Greg Schiano. His success in his first season led to the Buccaneers trading away LeGarrette Blount to the New England Patriots. Martin was a spectacular rookie for the Buccaneers last season and rewarded any fantasy owner that selected him. He rushed for 1,454 yards on 319 carries and caught 49 passes out of the backfield for another 472 yards, totaling 12 scores. He did all of this while operating behind a makeshift line for the entire season. ProBowl guards, Davin Joseph and Carl Nicks missed the 2012 season. A 2,500 total yard season is not out of the question for Martin in 2013 with 15 scores.

Some players will reach for Baltimore Ravens RB Ray Rice in the first-round. He barely crossed the 1,000-yard mark in 2012, and while he does catch a lot of balls out of the backfield, I’d temper expectations for 2013. WR Anquan Boldin is gone and there have been many questions surrounding the use of Rice in the Ravens offense.

Houston Texans RB Arian Foster is one of the few feature backs in the league, but his usage has to come into question. 391 times he touched the ball this past season. Do some online research on running backs which touch the ball over 370 times in a single season. Twice now in the last three years, Foster has over 390 carries.

Adrian Peterson is going to be a popular pick as the first running back off the board in many leagues, if not the first overall section in the first round. Peterson nearly had a record setting year while coming off a horrific knee injury, rushing for 2,097 yards. He accounted for 388 touches. You can make the case that Peterson was responsible for the Vikings reaching the playoffs in 2012, but Minnesota’s offense is still a question mark. QB Christian Ponder still has questions regarding his ability. Percy Harvin is gone and the oft-inured Greg Jennings was brought in. Rookie WR Cordarrelle Patterson is, well, a rookie.

Washington Redskins second year back Alfred Morris should still be a very productive fantasy option next season, but fantasy owners are going to have to monitor the progress of QB Robert Griffin III.

Many fantasy owners might be asking about why I have not included Seattle Seahawks RB Marshawn Lynch in my breakdown. Lynch is complete beast when he plays, but there might be an underlying issue surrounding him for the 2013 season. Many pundits wondered why Seattle used their first selection on RB Christine Michael in last week’d draft. Lynch is facing an upcoming trial for a DUI charge that many suggested that might result in a suspension for a portion of the 2012 season. Perhaps the Seahawks are more aware of the situation than many around the league know. Lynch’s behavior off the field precedes him.

For those who didn’t read my work last year or the year before, I’ll explain that I do not give out a letter grade a day or two after the NFL Draft ends. I think that’s like grading students before they’ve even took the test. What I do is review if the teams met their draft needs and if not, why.

I’ll be taking a look at every pick for every team, excluding undrafted free agents, over the month of May. Today we take a look at the 2013 draft class of the Jacksonville Jaguars

Round 1 – Luke Joeckel, OT, Texas A&M

While I felt that the Jags should have went for the best pass rusher available because they were one of the worst in the league at it last year, hard to get upset at them taking my top graded player in the draft. What I do have a problem with is taking him this high to play right tackle when they have a ton of cap space and there are some quality free agents left out there they could have brought in.

Round 2 – Jonathan Cyprien, S, Florida International

Getting the guy I had graded as the top safety in the draft in the second round is already one of the best value picks through the first 33 selections. He can be the enforcer the team has been lacking on defense as well as being a day one upgrade over either Dwight Lowery or Chris Prosinski.

Round 3 – Dwayne Gratz, CB, Connecticut

Even though Gratz will step in and be an immediate starter for the Jags in 2013, there were clearly better prospects still on the board here. I’m not going to kill them for apparently sticking with their Gabbert/Henne quarterback duo like the rest are if they’re going to try and fix their defense first, which it appears they’re doing here.

Round 4 – Ace Sanders, WR, South Carolina

And I take the last statement back. One has to wonder at this point with almost all of the quarterback’s falling who is going to throw these guys the ball? Sanders can still be a return guy and they need that, as well as a slot receiver. So I get the pick, I just don’t understand why not take a chance on Matt Barkley this late? It was zero risk.

Round 5 – Denard Robinson, WR, Michigan

Beating a dead horse here, but moving away from their stubbornness to find an NFL level quarterback, this kind of renders the Sanders pick useless. Robinson can do everything Sanders can do, but arguably better. I understand going with value this late in the draft, I just didn’t expect them to double up here. Robinson can return kicks, play in the slot and even spend some time at running back. If only they had a guy who could get him the ball…

Round 6 – Josh Evans, S, Florida

An excellent value pick in the sixth round, I had Evan with a fourth round grade. With the team also drafting Cyprien earlier, Evans probably won’t push for a starting spot as a rookie. But they now have their safety backfield of the future on the roster and that’s needed with it becoming  more of a passing league than ever before.

Round 7 – Jeremy Harris, CB, New Mexico St.

Despite the need for a pass rush, the entire defense needed a makeover. It appears this go around they’re focusing on the secondary. He’s tall and fits the mold that Gus Bradley usually looks for in a corner.

Round 7- Demetrius McCray, CB, Appalachian St.

Ending the day with their fifth pick for the secondary makes it clear that they want to slow down the offenses within the division through the air. McCray has comparable size to Harris and the same goes for him being what Bradley likes in a corner.

I can’t say I’m a big fan of this draft for the Jaguars based solely off the fact that I’m not sure what they were aiming for. There was no way to fix all this team’s problems in one draft, I get that. But focus on one thing. If you want to make 2013 be a throw away year with a rebuild, fine. But rebuild one side of the ball first. I’d of passed on the two wide receivers and got the best pass rushers available.

Last year, football fans were given some great news, spring football was going to be back in the form of the USFL. Mr. Jaime Cuadra purchased the rights to the retro league and laid out plans to create a developmental league which would with the NFL instead of against the powerhouse. The plan that was outlined was music to a football fans ears. No more blackhole between the Super Bowl and Labor Day. Yes, it wouldn’t be NFL quality football, but it was going to be football none the less.

Thepigskinreport spoke with one of the new league’s directors, former NFL legendary receiver, Fred Biletnikoff on a few occasions last season, and came away with the thought that while the plan sounded good, it seems like just a bit much to accomplish is a very short span of time. A few months later, it was announced that the start of the league would be pushed back to March 2014.

Around the Super Bowl this year, Mr. Cuadra made the rounds in the media and suggested the new plans for the USFL. While the original plans seemed ambitious, the new ones were very aggressive. Not only would the new USFL be placing teams in 8 cities, but they would be building stadiums and communities around the venues while working with an unnamed developer. Again, looking at the timeline, how this could be achieved in eight separate communities in one year seemed unreasonable.

Thepigskinreport reached out to Mr. Biletnikoff in order to get some clarity on this matter, but emails have not been returned. Football fans were told that an announcement on placement of the teams would be made within a few weeks. 10 weeks later, silence. Thepigskinreport was on the media press release email list, and we’ve received nothing in the last several weeks.

In an interesting turn of events, it appears that the league has taken down it’s website.

Is this just another tease to football fans? Another failed attempt to provide an alternative during the lull in between the NFL regular season? Another failed attempt to re-introduce the league that was very entertaining to watch? It appears that might be the case.

The NFL is the only league which has had commercial success. The original USFL was successful to a point but when they became arrogant and decided they could knock the behemoth off the block, they found out who was king. In recent years, we’ve had the XFL and UFL among others, all failed experiments and monumental wastes of money.

Roger Goodell has stated repeatedly about his desire to take the NFL product global. Instead of placing a franchise in London, why not create a spring/summer developmental league? 10-12 teams around the country with players that NFL teams have the rights to. This helps to create a new talent pool for players that need time on the field as well as creating a new wave of coaching prospects.

The NFL is wildly popular and it has proven that anything it does, people will watch. The league drew record numbers of viewers for this year’s NFL Combine, which is referred to as the underwear olympics. Millions tuned in to watch player lift weights and run 40-yard dashes. According to one site, in cities with NBA teams in the playoffs, more viewers tuned in to watch the NFL Draft than watch their hometown team play an important game.

If the league were to lay their golden hands on a spring football league, people would come out in droves and tune in their televisions. They could broadcast the games on their own television network. For that matter, networks would be falling over themselves for the rights to broadcast games. Each year there are roughly 1,000 players released from rosters at the end of training camp, more than enough to field 10-12 teams. Add in all the current participants from adult amateur leagues around the country, there would be an overabundance of players to fill rosters.

The NFL is missing the boat on a great opportunity. There are millions of football fans wanting to watch football. Hell, millions watched 7-rounds of players being drafted, imagine if there was actual football being played.