Despite his injuries, Todd McShay thinks Kansas City should go for Jameson Williams. (0:55) The 49ers had a clear deficiency in the corner position. The 49ers did what many other teams feel compelled to do after years of nibbling at it. Charvarius Ward was signed to a three-year, $42 million deal that fully guaranteed him $18.1 million at signing. The 49ers signed Ward because he had no Pro Bowl invites over the past four seasons, but because they wanted to draft him in the future. They don't have a first-round selection, but what if they get to their spot in the second or third round, and their top-rated player is a corner? For all the discussion about drafting the best player available, many teams would pass on the Cornerback and look to balance their team building with another position. It is a guessing game that has frustrated Niners head coach Kyle Shanahan for years, and one that has left him wishing that the NBA and the NHL would hold their draft before free agency. It would make too much sense to take the best player in the draft. You would always love to do that. If you could just study everybody in the draft, and then whoever comes to your spot, just take that player, that would be the neatest thing. When it's all said and done, you could just look at your board and say, "Hey, we don't have that position, let's go pay for it in free agency." If teams could stock their rosters with young, cheap, promising players before deciding how to spend their remaining cap space on available veterans, how would the NFL change? Who would benefit and who wouldn't? The Minnesota Vikings general manager, who spent three years working with the 49ers front office, said that he understands the situation. The NFL doesn't have a lot of incentive to move up the draft in order to cut down on the attention it gets. It doesn't want free agency to drop down to May or minicamps. Most of the coaches and general managers I asked about it this spring said they were locked into the structure and hadn't considered an alternative. Washington Commanders coach Ron Rivera, who has final say over the team's personnel moves, said it would be interesting. Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst said that it would definitely change how he thought about the offseason. Las Vegas Raiders coach Josh McDaniels said that if they ever did that, it would flip some things around. I don't know if they'll ever do it, but I've never really considered it. Adofo- Mensah said he didn't want to think about what it could be. Why did this structure get implemented in the first place? As it turns out, how is much more clear than why. The start of the NFL's modern financial structure is usually traced to 1993, when owners and the NFL Players Association agreed on a system that would allow unrestricted free agency in exchange for a hard salary cap for each team. They had tested an idea called "Plan B", where teams were allowed to protect 37 players who had been on their rosters the previous season. The rest were exposed and could be used to sign elsewhere as free agents. McShay and Kiper have the same rank.
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It started with Plan B
Most of the backups and aging veterans entered the market because teams protected their best players. There was a chaotic time in the NFL. In the previous decade, there were two work stoppages and a number of players filed antitrust lawsuits against the league to get a free-agent market.
Donald Yee, a long time agent, said at the start of Plan B that there was an urgent need to get started.
The players who were eligible for free agency wanted to start talking to teams immediately. The general managers wanted enough time to prepare for the draft. The college all-star games were where a lot of the recruiting of players by agents began. You had agents and front offices worried about not having enough manpower to complete all of their draft preparations. That is part of how it came about. They wanted to have some order as to how these things happen instead of everything happening at once.
Yee was involved in the development of the structure, having pursued the antitrust lawsuits for several players, and later working to test the boundaries of the new collective bargaining agreement by negotiating a fully-guaranteed contract for quarterback Rick Mirer. Tom Brady is one of the people he represents. The presumed mild nature of Plan B and the power of routine made him forget about the order of free agency and the draft.
The early months of spring are when general managers and personnel executives prepare for the draft. The clubs would have complained that they didn't have time to evaluate the large number of prospects that were coming out, Yee said.
Plan B was found to be in violation of antitrust laws in 1992. The early spring format was in place when the system was converted to free agency. The owners were more focused on securing the salary cap than thinking about the advantages and disadvantages of slotting free agency after the draft.
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The frenzy that free agency would become was not anticipated by contemporary executives and agents.
Yee said that the part played out organically. Everyone was champing at the bit to get going after all the teams were left to their own devices.
The veteran contract negotiator I spoke with this spring had no doubt about how the swap would play out. If teams were allowed to draft before the free-agent market opened, there would be less bidding on available free agents. Basic economics suggests that a lower volume of interest would lead to less money per deal, giving teams more leverage and salary-cap space to re-sign pending free agents before the market opened.
The reverse structure is easier to absorb by the NFL teams, who have more scouting staffs and systems that allow them to draft sooner.
Gutekunst said he would like to get the medicals done and just draft after the college season. That is an interesting question. There are times when you would like to fill a hole before the draft. I am not sure if the union would be fired up about doing that after the draft.
Rivera said that teams could shed more veterans if they were able to draft a long-term replacement before the market opened. Individual contract values would be affected by a flooded market.
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Rivera thinks it would make more high-priced guys available. The teams with big contracts are going to have to find a replacement for that player, because there is a guy they think might be able to do that. That is what might happen.
Others are not sure. It makes more sense from a team-building perspective, but it could also benefit players who would be the final option for filling a roster hole. If a negotiation doesn't work out, teams wouldn't have the leverage of using the draft.
Free agency is when you are going to overpay. The purpose of the draft is lost when you overpay to get those. You have to overpay if it goes the other way around because you know where you are.
Over the course of decades of negotiations, Yee has seen unexpected outcomes and consequences. If the structure ever changed, he cautioned against making a huge change.
Yee said that it wouldn't affect what they see. The draft is limited to seven rounds. The amount of impact guys you will get is very small. You need veteran free agents.
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