-645x356.jpg)
The NFL draft is about to be moved. At least that's what ESPN's Adam Schefter reports. According to Schefter, the NFL and NFLPA are close to a deal that would move the NFL draft from it's current time in April to May.
The NFLPA will also be getting a carrot of incentive. The start of the league year, and thus free agency, will likely be moved to begin before the scouting combine.
The by-product of the move of the beginning of the league year would occur at the scouting combine. Teams would also use the event as a way to strike deals since the league year would have officially started. That's a big change from the current state of the combine in which teams talk with each other over hypothetical deals that later become reality once the new league year starts.
The overarching idea of re-arranging the league year is simple. Give fans a better opportunity to follow the NFL year round. By bumping the draft later into the offseason, the dead period between the draft and OTAs will be all but eliminated, and excitement following the draft will carry deeper into the slow summer months.
The NFL is all about promoting its brand, and when there's an opportunity to do just that on the table, you can bet the league will try to get it done. We've seen this coming for some time, and if Adam Schefter is right, we'll be seeing an offseason shuffle in the near future.
