The NFL Draft taking place at the end of April is one of the most anticipated weekends of the year for any true football fan. So how would you feel about it being moved up until February?

I for one am all for it. In April, you are just getting into the swing of things in baseball, while the NBA and NHL playoffs are continuing to drag on. In February, we have nothing. College basketball is winding down and the NBA and NHL regular seasons are continuing to drag on. It’s a perfect time to mix in some football.

At this week’s owners meetings, moving the draft is one of the topics to be discussed. There are some that feel that free agency should come after the draft, and they have plenty of financial and logistical reasons why.

Moving the draft up to February would allow free agency to play out better for the teams. Not only does it help answer their financial questions, but it allows them to better analyze their needs before spending on veterans.

The proposed new timetable would have the draft in February, followed by rookie mini-camps, then free agency.

You would have to think that it would also allow for better development for rookies, having an additional two months to work out with their NFL coaches.

Reorganizing the offseason is what is really being discussed, with the draft just being one piece of the movable puzzle. The new changes proposed could also see the Senior Bowl and the East-West Shrine Game both moved to Tampa, allowing players to work out with coaches for two straight weeks at an NFL facility.

It would also mean that the combine gets moved up, and it would take away the weeks and weeks of spread out pro-days, putting a huge amount of value and pressure into the combine.

This would not only work for the coaches as far as getting information and valuable coaching time, but it would save the league a ton of money, something that they are really focusing on right now. This is both an economic and logistical decision, and I support it for all of these reasons, and probably many more.

In my opinion, the players should do all of their workouts closer to the end of the season, and doing all of this in a one month time frame would be better for the coaches. And most importantly, it will give us, the fans, something to watch in February.

The only issue that I would raise would be that of injured players. If a player gets injured in his bowl game, that is two less months for his injury to be evaluated by a prospective employer. It is bad for both ends, as the team could get screwed by an injury that is worse than they thought, and a player could get passed over because of the uncertainty of his injury.

Other than that one issue, I’m all for this. Well done NFL, get this passed. Most importantly, providing real sports to cover between the Super Bowl and March Madness could save us from the next Who’s Now debacle. And you have to support that.

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