3 easy ways the NFL could create its own development league

Following the AAF’s likely demise, retired NFL lineman Geoff Schwartz has a few ideas for how a “development league” could work.

Another spring football league bites the dust. The Alliance of American Football (AAF) is shuttering operations for the moment and might soon fold, as no agreement with the NFLPA and/or the NFL is within distance. Majority investor Tom Dundon, owner of the Carolina Hurricanes, invested in the league with the idea it would eventually partner with the above entities to become the official developmental league for the NFL. That hasn’t happened, and now the AAF appears to be near its finish.

This brings up the question that’s been asked repeatedly: Does the NFL need a true developmental league, like the now-defunct NFL Europe? Yes and no.

I’ll explain both — and my idea for a developmental league.

The NFL already has two “development leagues” it uses

About five to eight years ago, when the college game went full spread offense and the NFL hadn’t adapted to the prospects it was receiving like quarterbacks, or smaller linebackers and linemen, I thought a developmental league was a must. The league was getting players who weren’t able to play in NFL systems, and many could’ve used an opportunity to transition at a slower pace.

Now that the NFL has adapted, it views the college game as the ultimate developmental league, even though it’s actually not close. Remember, the goal of a college football program is to win games now, not necessarily prepare players for the league. Having players drafted into the NFL helps your program — no doubt about it. But players being ready for the NFL doesn’t save a coach’s job when the losses are piling up.

So from the NFL’s perspective, it doesn’t need a minor league. It has college football. It also has the practice squad.

For those needing a refresher, the practice squad is comprised of 10 players on each team who aren’t on the roster and get paid to practice. I know this life well. I spent my entire rookie season on the practice squad. You do everything players on the roster do except play in the games. You’re in all the meetings, film sessions, weight room activities, and of course, practice.

However, it’s hard to judge development during scripted practice periods, often without pads on, while working on the other teams’ plays for each week. Practice squad members get their chance to show development if they are called up to play in games, or next season in training camp, which could lead toward making a roster.

Even though it might be tough to determine growth during practice time, I found my rookie season to be essential to my eventual success in the NFL. I was not ready to play after my first training camp. I had played in a college offense that was nothing like the NFL. I played in a three-point stance maybe 10 reps in three college seasons. I needed that NFL practice time to get comfortable in a stance and with the speed of the game, and to work on my technique and hone my craft. I’m grateful, as tough as it was that season, for my practice squad year. I made huge jumps that I wouldn’t have made either out of football (duh) or maybe even on the roster sitting on the bench.

But while the NFL might be OK with its “developmental league” as it’s constructed now, I think there’s more that can be done.

My idea: Turn the practice squad into a true development league

I’m not sure adding a whole separate league is needed. Here’s my idea, and I want to give credit to Amy Trask for some of the meat and potatoes of it. She was a guest on a podcast of mine and we discussed a need for a developmental league at length.

So here goes: The NFL craves control over its products. If the NFL were to ever join another league, or give its endorsement of a spring league, it wouldn’t get the oversight it wants for how the league is operated. The NFL should use an already existing roster — the practice squad — to make a developmental league it has authority over.

It wouldn’t just have control over the product and how it’s presented, either. It would have control over schemes, personnel, and coaching.

The NFL can do a few things to make these practice squads more useful toward development.

1. Add more players, and coaches, to NFL practice squads

First and foremost, the players on the practice squads need to play in game-like conditions. The easiest way to do this is to expand the practice squad to 22 players, or maybe even more, but at least you need 11-on-11. These players would scrimmage on Mondays during the season. It doesn’t have to be every Monday, but enough to where evaluation can take place.

Then, you’d have the younger coaches on staff design gameplans and implement them. It gives young coaches an opportunity to gameplan, call plays, and get comfortable with more on their plate. You’d most likely need to expand the coaching staff to allow this to happen, opening up more coaching jobs.

So, increasing practice squad size would give more players a chance to improve, get film, and be noticed, and adding coaches allows them to gain experience.

If the NFL decides to make this happen, it’d need to share the practice film around the league to allow other teams to scout players. The downside would be teams trying to poach players more often from practice squads. While that’s a negative for the team, it’s a huge plus for the player, who now is on a roster.

2. Let practice squads play each other

There’s another version of this the NFL could offer too: it could again expand the practice squads, hire coaches to coach these players, and then have teams near each other “play” four or five times a season. The California teams, plus Seattle and Arizona, are all in a league together, for example.

However you break it up, it’d allow players on the practice squad to get game reps, which are hugely important to development. Also, it gives NFL teams the opportunity to see the progress of players on other teams in person, with the chance they might want to sign a player off a rival’s practice squad.

3. Turn the practice squads into their own league in the offseason

Lastly, the NFL could do what I just wrote above, but make it a spring league. It could keep the practice squads to 10 players during the season, then expand in the offseason and make it a league. However, this option raises an important issue: length of a season.

If the NFL adopts this format, it’d have the 10 players on the current practice squad who did training camp, then an entire season of practice, then practicing again for a new league, playing in the league, and then going straight into OTAs. Injury risk is a major downside to this whole idea in the first place, and this would lead to more injuries if players are in pads year around.

Still, whichever form it’d take, a full-fledged developmental league would be a fantastic addition to the NFL product — and it would allow players who need the extra time, as I did, to have a chance for success.