JUSTICE

Today, persuaded no doubt by my rhetorical excellence, the NFL owners voted 32-0 to change the way the bottom 12 picks of the draft are allotted.  Whereas this year, the San Diego Chargers are picking far ahead of the Colts, starting next year, draft picks will be awarded based on how teams finish in the playoffs.  This is essentially a parallel proposal to the one I suggested on Monday which would have slotted teams by playoff seed, and one which I approved of in the extensive debate with “Guy” that took place in the comments section.  Under the new plan, teams are slotted 1-20 based on record and then 21-32 based first on what round of the playoffs they were eliminated and then by record to break the ties.  I favored using playoff seeds just to increase the value of the regular season in determining the draft picks, but recognize that this plan accomplishes the same end and is consistent with current NFL practice (namely the reslotting of the Super Bowl participants).

Special props to BP for suggesting the very change the NFL adopted in the comments of the previous post.  As I said then, I have no argument with this version either.  

Also on the table was a proposal to give home games to teams with the best records and not to division champions (a plan supported by the Jaguars and Demond).  That plan was withdrawn due to lack of support.

Again the final vote on this change was 32 in favor of the new system and zero in favor of the current system.  Apparently, the specific injustice of the Colts/Chargers was the impetus for the change.  Interesting. 

For those who care to know, I did do an embarrassing dance around the house when I heard.  And yes, I am just a little ashamed of myself.

Links:
Kuharsky on the Colts draft needs:

Just a note of thanks to John Oehser for his props on his excellent Indyfootballreport blog (a daily read of mine…you can find it in our sidebar links). By the way, in his commentary he rightly asks for my source on the “all the good DTs in the first 15 picks” comment. It must be Kuharsky, who repeats in the video above that Polian told him that before the combine. We’ll be doing 18 Questions with John very soon.