Auction start date for the future

[bonscott]

Ok, last couple years we've ended up delaying until around the 20th-25th due to various issues. I gotta say, especially this year, I like starting it a little later. I'm chomping at the bit but I like to see a good bit of the NFL free agency and transactions happen.

On top of that the past couple years the draft is basically over in less then 2 weeks. It's already half over this year and we just started it 2 days ago.

How about permanently pushing the draft date back to say March 25th? Or even April 1st?

This gives nearly a month of NFL free agency and player moves to happen so we have a better idea where we stand. We'd still have most of the auction over before the NFL draft as well.

Any thoughts?

[JMac]

The later the better in my opinion. More information regarding NFL free agency allows for more "strategy" in determining the salary and contract of a player added to your roster as opposed to drafting in the dark and hoping you get lucky.

[LV Elite]

I totally agree with waiting an extra week or two to start the free agency auction! More information, the better....

[braven112]

I'm not against the idea because having more information is nice. We really are shooting blind in some cases but on the flip side you can get a diamond in the rough that way so it can go both ways but that's a gamble.

A couple concerns that I have though, moving it too close to the NFL draft are that it could change the dynamic of Free agency quite a bit since you won't have much time to make trades. Teams would have to be a lot more conservative with how many players they get at each position. Right now you a lot of time to get your team ready via trades and I think trades are a lot of fun.

The other thing is if we did move it later permanently, then we basically have no wiggle room if someone runs into a problem and can't make the start of the auction. Right now its scheduled so far in advance that we can easily move it later like we've done the past two seasons. I really don't want to have the major part of Free Agency happening during the draft that would be a way to crazy IMO.

I don't think any of my concerns are deal stoppers but I wanted to throw them out there. I think the 25th is the latest that I would like to see it. That would mean we are done with the major signings by April 1st. If someone couldn't make it I think the only direction we could go to accommodate them would be moving it earlier but no earlier than the 15th.

[Georgia Punishers]

25th is only 2 days later then it started this year so no issue there for me. I'm fine with whatever the majority opinion is..