NFL in ten year predictions

[albionmoonlight]

How will the NFL look different in ten years than it does today? What exists now that will probably be gone? What isn't here yet that will seem almost common in ten years? It can be anything from personel issues, to plays and formations, to things like the TV contract.

Here's what I see:

1.) Lots more black head coaches. It takes a long time to reach the pinnacle of any profession. No one can retire and become an NFL coach right off the bat. It takes years of cutting your teeth as position coaches, college coaches, and coordinators. Black coaches have been cutting their teeth for a while, and they are in the pipeline. I see a flood happening sometime in the next ten years.

2.) More playoff teams. At some point, a 7-9 division winner will make it to the playoffs while a 10-6 team stays home. The calls of unfairness will go out across the land. And the NFL will decide to water down its product by giving ABC a couple of more playoff games to televise. I would not be suprised if half the teams in the league made the playoffs in ten years.

3.) No team in L.A., yet. There is a reason that the league had to leave there twice. It's a very complicated market to fit the NFL's business model, which generally involves not having to work to get fans excited. And the NFL likes having it open in order to pressure other markets into building new stadia. They may end up there eventually, but there really is no rush. When they do it, they will take their time and do it right.


Others?

[rkmsuf]

The Cardinals will still suck.

[wishbone]

I think we see a team try to run the wishbone for a full game. Maybe with 2 WRs but 3 men in the backfield. A scatback at one tailback, a real fullback and a traditional halfback, probably have some motion to get the scatback out of the backfield.

[Raiders Army]

2.) More playoff teams. At some point, a 7-9 division winner will make it to the playoffs while a 10-6 team stays home. The calls of unfairness will go out across the land. And the NFL will decide to water down its product by giving ABC a couple of more playoff games to televise. I would not be suprised if half the teams in the league made the playoffs in ten years.

I see this as a direct result of reducing the exhibition games to two games per team instead of four.

[QuikSand]

Perhaps we will see the advent of fully (or largely) guaranteed contracts in football.

I think that would be an awful shame, but it's certainly possible.

[VPI97]

Mark my words...the NFL will implement the rouge.

[WSUCougar]

We're due for another fixture offense. The West Coast has had a long shelf-life. The Run-and-Shoot flared out pretty quickly. Surely in ten years there'll be several teams featuring THE WISHBONE or something.

[Raiders Army]

I think the West Coast offense is pretty much gone now. The offenses that are out there use some type of hybrid of the West Coast offense and something else.

I also think that the 4-6 will have a resurgence, since it seems as if the players are getting bigger and bigger. I think we'll see 6'5", 270 lb. linebackers who can run a 4.4 40.

[Rockstar]

In ten years......


Bill Cowher will still be the coach of the Steelers.
Mike Irvin will finally be inducted into the Hall Of Fame.
Terell Owens will still be a loud mouth. Working for ESPN until the "If we had Shannon Sharpe at the play-by-play halftime highlight show desk instead of Berman, our ratings would be 10 points higher" comment. After being suspended for the rest of the season, he is fired.
Marty Schottenhimer (sp?) wins his first Super Bowl- while playing the NFLs new powerhouse Detroit Lions on Madden 2016 for Playstation X.
There will be two teams in LA. The transplanted Saints, renamed the Stars, and the expansion Plastic Surgeons. The bitter rivalry is born.

Now the real ones

Bill Cowher will STILL be the head coach of the Steelers.
Tomlinson shatters the all time rushing record.

The Stampeed Offense takes the NFL by storm. With variations of the mighty Colts style offense of the early to mid 2000's, scoring records reach unprecedented levels. The NFL immediately institutes new rules to preserve the integrity of long standing records that are being too rapidly broken. After realizing that too many rules benefiting only the offense have been voted in the NFL drastically changes the way penalties are called. The penalty for hitting a QB who is running by the sideline but is still in bounds is eliminated.
Replays are done automatically through the new "autoplay" headsets worn by the referees. Instant feedback eliminates all wrong calls. Despite calls for its banishment for "ruining the human element" of the game, it stays with 32-1 approval of the owners. The lone holdout? Bob Kraft. (it wasnt a fumble!) Whatever Bob....

[WrongWay]

1) No. Look at the NFL's minor league system, the NCAA Div. I, and you will see less Black head coaches per team than in the the NFL.

2) No. Remember the owners get to charge full price for those pre-season games. I can see the NFL going to a 2 bye week system for more TV money.

3) Yes. I think there will be an international team before there is an LA team.




***I look for NFL players to get bigger, faster, and stronger and Steroids to run wild after the Fed gets involved. An NFL player, who is not part of the NFLPA will challenge this Employee drug testing policy in the court system. Last time I checked an Employer can not subject his employees to unwaranted drug tests and polygraphs unless they can show just cause.***

[BuffaloHuskey]

The Bills will lose another Super Bowl, resulting in mass suicides from Bills die-hards (which is basically the whole city).

Seriously -

I see a transformation in the way offensive lines are formed. I think with the size of DTs and the quickness of DEs and LBs, will require teams to move to smaller offensive tackles and larger offensive guards. (Hopefully, it will not take 10 years for them to figure this out). The TE will basically be extinct. WR's are getting so big/TEs or so quick that the position basically becomes a slot position. Big backs will be bust draft picks every time. Players are so big and quick on the defensive end, there will be no problem stopping the big back. Smaller backs will be successful as it will be easier for them to hid behind the massive guards.

[waltwal]

i hope it is a vastly different product. i have spent the last 40 years waiting for the saturday and sunday of football season. over the last 2 years it has been narrowed to saturday. college football has continued to get better and better even with the stupid bcs but pro football has fallen off the table. i am at the point where i simply don't watch it anymore. i can't explain exactly why but i am just not interested and i still consider myself a football fanatic. if i had to make a guess i think the salary cap has taken the fun out of pro football for me.

[WrongWay]

if i had to make a guess i think the salary cap has taken the fun out of pro football for me.
Do you like Baseball?

The Salary cap makes it so you can't always root for a winner every year unless you switch teams.

[dawgfan]

1) No. Look at the NFL's minor league system, the NCAA Div. I, and you will see less Black head coaches per team than in the the NFL.

I'm pretty sure more NFL Head Coaches come from the ranks of NFL Assistant Coaches, and I'd be willing to bet the pool of black assistants and coordinators is growing in the NFL. It is in college as well, it just hasn't yet translated into more head coaches at that level, but it will happen.

[stevew]

Id think there would be teams in Mexico City, LA, and maybe Toronto within 10 years.

[cthomer5000]

2) No. Remember the owners get to charge full price for those pre-season games. I can see the NFL going to a 2 bye week system for more TV money.
They tried this for one year in the 90s and it bombed. I don't know if they'll try it again.

[stevew]

The worst was when they had an odd number of teams and people had weeks 1 and 17 as bye weeks. *That* was stupid. And the 2 bye week system was a long long season I remember, hope they never go back to that.

[WSUCougar]

Millions of irate fantasy football owners will march on NFL Headquarters demanding the end of the dreaded Bye Week. New NFL commissioner John Madden will gaze out the bullet-proof window of his armored bus and state, "Let them eat turducken." Riots will break out in Detroit, New Orleans, Chicago, New York, and - coincidentally - LA.

Field goals of 50+ yards will be worth 4 points.

Those incredibly dorky one-bar punter/kicker helmets will be outlawed under the uniform policy.

In an appeal to a younger base audience, referees will be allowed to act out their penalty calls however they wish. Taunting and unsportmanslike conduct penalties soon become the highlight of each game, as nothing soothes the masses quite like Ed Hochuli doing a T.O pelvic thrust.

Charles Rogers breaks his 17th collar bone.

The lightbulb finally goes on for Akili Smith, and he has a brilliant three-game career.

Punting for the Falcons, Julio Franco becomes the oldest two-sport star in history, at age 67.

Mike Shanahan has no teeth. John Gruden's forehead has split in half. Bill Cowher's jaw now extends 4 inches in front of the rest of his face. Andy Reid now weighs 500 pounds.

[Raiders Army]

Andy Reid now weighs 500 pounds.
I thought this was true already.

[Lorena]

Replays are done automatically through the new "autoplay" headsets worn by the referees. Instant feedback eliminates all wrong calls.

Wouldn't that be nice?

Yup, the Cardinals will still suck and linemen will be slightly over 400 lbs.

How about a female kicker? Controversial, but it might happen.

[Raiders Army]

I think there's a better chance of getting a female head coach than a female kicker.

Translation: Never gonna happen. :)

[WrongWay]

Talking about replays.... Why can't they have an electronic whistle so they know exactly when the whistle was blown, and by who?

[Izulde]

I think there's a better chance of getting a female head coach than a female kicker.

Translation: Never gonna happen. :)

It happened in Necessary Roughness!

[Passacaglia]

18 regular season games, 2 preseason games.

[Raven Hawk]

After a spat in public over who is going to pick up the bill, Michael Irvin finally gives up on T.O. calling him a penniless bitch, before offering T.O. $5 for to "suck his dick." T.O. pauses to consider . . .

[cthomer5000]

BioTurf Sparkle Grass

[st.cronin]

40 teams

[Rizon]

I'll still be getting shitty TV coverage.

[Passacaglia]

BioTurf Sparkle Grass

I think that's closer to 15 years away.

[Riggins44]

More regular season games outside of the US (Los Angeles).
Michael Vick retires with a 70 QB rating, yet people still think he's great.

[kurtism]

The entire time I was reading this thread, I kept imagining Conan O'Brien and Andy Richter, dressed in black and holding a flashlight below their necks, chanting in falsetto.

[st.cronin]

Tom Brady will have more Super Bowl rings than Peyton Manning.

[rkmsuf]

In an appeal to a younger base audience, referees will be allowed to act out their penalty calls however they wish. Taunting and unsportmanslike conduct penalties soon become the highlight of each game, as nothing soothes the masses quite like Ed Hochuli doing a T.O pelvic thrust.




Frank Drebin!

[dubb93]

Peyton Manning will have 10 super bowl rings.

[Raiders Army]

Peyton Manning will have 10 super bowl rings.
Who'd he steal them from?

[dubb93]

Who'd he steal them from?

3 from Tom Brady, 3 from Belichick, 2 from Brett Farve, and 1 from Vladimir Putin. :)

But in all seriousness I see Manning leaving the game having won 2 super bowls.

[rkmsuf]

2 from Farve? AIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

[dubb93]

2 from Farve? AIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

He'll get another one. Trust me on this.

[rkmsuf]

He'll get another one. Trust me on this.

Never

[dubb93]

Never

BAH, I'll make my predictions as crazy as I want to.

[RendeR]

HRm, in 10 years time eh? Let's see...

Cincinnati finally wins a Super Bowl

36 teams adding Los Angelas, Las Vegas, Vancouver, and Portland. The Saints move to San Antonioand become the Spurs. "We want our city to be known for one team mascot" the mayor states when asked why they copied the basketball teams monicker.

Field goals of 50+ yards will be 5 points, both to reward the kickers and to get teams to try more long yardage kicks.

The Super Bowl will regularly be played in cold weather cities. "This is the NFL people, play in the weather or quit."

The season will go to 2 preseason games and 18 regular season games.

Playoffs will be expanded to 16 teams once the leage reaches 36 teams.

Playoffs will convert to a true 16 team tournament, where the teams are seeded based on their record and tie breakers regardless of which conference they are in. Same Conference Super Bowls become regular occurances as the truly best two teams meet in the big game.

Technology will arise which helps precisely place the ball on the field so the "did he make it" questions are eliminated.

[DanGarion]

Anyone know the percentage of black or minority coaches in the NFL and college?

[dawgfan]

Anyone know the percentage of black or minority coaches in the NFL and college?

IIRC, it's about 3% for head coaches and about 25% or so for assistant coaches in college.

[DanGarion]

IIRC, it's about 3% for head coaches and about 25% or so for assistant coaches in college.
So lets see the national population is 10% or so.

Head coaches in college percentage wise is lower then in the NFL where you have Lewis, Dungy, Edwards, Green and I can't think who else (but that's over 10%).

[dawgfan]

So lets see the national population is 10% or so.

Yeah, but the percentage of blacks that play football at the collegiate level is around 45%. The vast majority of college football coaches also played football at a collegiate level.

[DanGarion]

Yeah, but the percentage of blacks that play football at the collegiate level is around 45%. The vast majority of college football coaches also played football at a collegiate level.
Ah yeah didn't know the % of players although I did know it was higher then the population average.

[Coffee Warlord]

He'll get another one. Trust me on this.

As a coach maybe.

[Mustang]

In Ten Years, Flip Six Three Hole will be the NFL's favorite play...

http://www.mstiegate.com/MSTapes/football.jpg

[st.cronin]

BAH, I'll make my predictions as crazy as I want to.

loony

[jackyl]

Six six-team divisions, with expansion teams in San Antonio, Portland, Vegas, and Orlando.

Quarterback Vince Young, after leading the Baltimore Ravens to three Super Bowls appearances and two victories, becomes the league's first $30 million a year player.

400 pound offensive linemen are commonplace.

The Los Angeles Saints, behind former 4th round draft pick Brett Basanez, become the Patriots of the 2010's.

Arena football takes over from the defunct NFL-E as the league's developmental arm.

Peyton Manning retires after rewriting the passing record book, but Eli has more rings.

The Jaguars move to Birmingham, Alabama.

The active roster is increased to 55 players.

Ozzie Newsome becomes the first black commissioner of the NFL.

[dubb93]

As a coach maybe.

They will continue to struggle to the #2 pick in the draft where they land Reggie Bush. After hinting retirement he decides to stay and see what Bush does. In his rookie year Bush rushs for 1700 yards and brings life back in Brett Farve. In the 2nd year, Bush runs for well over 2000 yards and the Packers run through the season, breaking the NFL scoring mark despite a sub-par defense. In the end, the 14-2 Packers dethrone the 2 time defending champion Indianapolis Colts and claim the title.