Quote:Not perfect analogy

1. MLB you need a good farm system to be a contender long term. No such thing in NFL.

2. Turn around time. It takes a lot longer to turn around an MLB franchise because of how long draft picks take to pan out, and because windows are typically longer in MLB.

3. Typically fast turnover in NFL. Most teams tend to make the playoffs once every decade in NFL. Yes, there are those franchises that are horribly run, but I think there has been at least 1 worst-to-first division winner in the NFL each of the last 10 years or something. MLB has some turnover, but the best teams typically stay the best teams. Most teams never really have a chance at the playoffs.

 

Having said that, before Luhnow (current GM) was hired by Houston, the DisAstros had horrible draft after horrible draft for years back to when they stupidly let Hunsicker go to the Tampa Bay Rays because Drayton (old Owner) got his pride hurt. They have done well to turn it around now draft-wise, but they are still at least 2-3 years out from contention. In that sense, it is a lot like the Jaguars who have repeatedly poorly drafted for years because apparely Gene Smith "purposely" drafted players from small schools "who had faced adversity".

 

Jaguars are basically like the Houston Texans when Kubiak got hired at the end of the David Carr era. Note they also got lambasted for their #1 pick by fans with Mario Williams even though that was the right decision at the time.

I addressed all 3 of those points by saying it will work even better in the NFL because you don't have to wait years for players to develop in the minors and the big market teams can't spend their way to a title b/c of the salary cap. The latter being why teams in baseball have to load up for a small window before they start all over. If the Royals/Stros/Marlins/etc weren't basically farm systems for the big markets (which they can't do in the NFL) then the draft, develop, long term sustainability process works even better no?

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