New Orleans Saints Forums - blackandgold.com - Wild Thoughts (not from Rihanna) to fix the NFL

The idea starts to make more sense the more I think about it, which means Goodell will never sniff it. It is a fairly radical idea, but hear me out ...

What if ... the NFL had Junior Varsity teams? Here's how it would work -

1) Keep the 4 preseason games, but allow the rosters to be HUGE. I'm talking 140 guys on each team.

2) Before NFL week 1, each NFL team has to designate 47 players to varsity team active squad, 63 players to JV squad, and other players get cut or go to IR/PUP. No more practice squad.

3) No more Thursday or Saturday games for the varsity NFL teams.

4) Week 1, Varsity NFL teams would play week 1 on Sunday/Monday night

5) Following the week 1 games, JV teams would play on Thursday night, usually following the same opponent schedule/stadium as NFL. So, for instance, the Saints JV team would have played the Vikings JV team on Thursday September 14.

6) Each week on Tuesday, an NFL team can move up to 5 players up from JV and 5 players down to JV.

7) Repeat the same schedule - Sunday/Monday varsity, Tuesday decision day, Thursday JV each week.

8) Players on JV squad are protected are not eligible for trade, only Varsity players are.

9) Schedule is adhered to until Varsity NFL playoffs. Thanksgiving Thursday would feature JV teams.

10) During NFL playoffs, the JV teams would have a smaller playoffs of their own. Top 2 JV teams from each conference would play the Thursday before the AFC/NFC championship weekend. Then the "JV Super Bowl" would occur on Sunday, on the bye week before the Varsity Super Bowl.

11) Obviously salary cap would need to be expanded to include the JV squads.

12) JV teams would have same uniforms and equipment as Varsity team, except for a JV decal on the helmet and front of jersey.

Benefits -

1) Expensive NFL-purposed stadiums see more action, revenue and usage.

2) NFL gets to dominate Thursday night on TV and stadiums with around-the-league JV coverage.

3) If injuries occur in NFL, there is a backup already under contract on JV team that can be promoted, and the JV team can backfill their position. Imagine the Dorenbos situation, we would have had a long-snapper ready to promote from JV team rather than sign a pure free agent. Or imagine mid-season 2 NFL corners go down with injuries in the same week. There would be 2 JV team corners that have been playing games and aren't rusty who could be promoted to the main team.

4) Former practice squad players and fringe NFL players have a job and they don't simply rot away on their couch playing Candy Crush.

5) NFL would get it's Thursday night action but teams won't have to worry about crazy-short weeks or 10 day layoffs afterword.

6) Increased competition and quality of product at Varsity level in NFL because good players have to worry about being demoted.

7) Players who are coming back from injury could play a game or two in JV to get themselves back into form.

8) This effectively gives the NFL a minor/developmental league without the cost of additional minor league location, ownership, branding, etc. while the getting the most out of the expensive facilities that are already in place. It would also be a good proving ground for coaches and assistants trying to work their way up to NFL.

9) Organizations that are good at scouting, stashing and developing talent would be rewarded for their farming, like MLB.

So this is kind of crazy, but I thought I'd share. Thanks for reading.