According to an article published on ESPN.com on Oct. 16 (https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/27861049/roger-goodell-says-there-no-talk-draft-lottery-combat-tanking), NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell says there's no talk about a draft lottery.
The Miami Dolphins have been an atrocity this season, and if they aren't tanking, then no NFL team has ever tanked.
With them and the Cincinnati Bengals each without a win through the first seven weeks of the NFL season -- and the Washington Redskins being a dropped screen pass in what YouTuber UrinatingTree dubbed "The Greatest Game," a.k.a. "Super Tank Bowl, away from being winless -- there is no doubt that some teams are not worthy of playing NFL games.
It was always a joke that some NFL teams are so bad that they would lose to, say, the University of Alabama. Normally, that's just a joke.
But I seriously believe the Orlando Apollos, a former AAF team, could beat these Dolphins.
The Dolphins traded away left tackle Laremy Tunsil, receiver Kenny Stills and linebacker Kiko Alonso for future draft picks and role players the weekend prior to week one. Early in the season, they traded Minkah Fitzpatrick to the Pittsburgh Steelers for a first-round pick.
So how do we stop teams from tanking? A draft lottery is an idea, but just ask the NBA how well that has worked over the past few decades. Speaking of the NBA, they can feel free to take the idea I have written below as well -- frankly, they might need it more than the NFL does.
I had suggested in a past blog post (https://rostradamusspeakingsports.blogspot.com/2019/09/dolphins-make-me-wish-nfl-believed-in.html) that the league should consider relegation, but there are obvious financial obligations to this idea, or a possible idea of relegation within the 32 teams already in the league.
So I have a different idea. Just like the implementation of the two-point conversion to the NFL in the mid-1990's, this idea would be taken from NCAA football.
In the NCAA, a college team caught cheating is put on probation. Two of the biggest components to an NCAA probation is the reduction of scholarships and a postseason ban.
Whether my plan is a punishment for tanking or just for being a lousy football team, this is my proposed step-by-step adaptation of an NCAA probation to the NFL:
-- After a season of NFL football, at least two worst teams would be placed on "probation." Obviously, it would be the teams with the two worst records in the league -- which, if the NFL decided to implement the system this season, that would be the Dolphins and the Bengals, but if they wanted to add the Redskins as well, they wouldn't get any objections from me.
-- The teams on "probation" would have their first-round picks stripped from them (just their draft pick, not any draft picks acquired from other teams), unless it was traded to another team prior to the trade deadline. I considered stripping all of their draft picks away, but I would like these teams to have some sort of chance to compete after they are taken off probation.
-- The teams put on "probation" will be ineligible for the playoffs for the following season, regardless of regular-season record. They would still be playing a regular NFL schedule, and would be under the same salary-cap and free agent rules as the other teams.
-- Should it be just two teams on "probation," the team with the better record the next season would feel like Antonio Brown after being released from the Oakland Raiders (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-gwWVYmW7Y), except they actually were set free from something, as they would be free from "probation." The team with a lesser record would still be on probation. The team with the worst record that same season would be placed on "probation," and that cycle would continue for each season after that.
-- If there is a need for a tiebreaker, either between the two teams on "probation" or if there is a tie for the worst record among teams not on "probation," then a tiebreaker game will be played during the bye week between the conference championship games and the Super Bowl. Hey, it'd make for a more exciting game than the Pro Bowl.
-- If there are three or more teams put on "probation," the NFL could consider letting two or more teams off "probation" and put two or more non-probation teams with the worst records in the league on "probation."
