2012 NFL Draft: Could Lack of 2011 NFL Season Mean a Super Draft in 2012?

No one exactly knows the state of the NFL lockout, except that it seems with every coming day the possibilities of a 2011 NFL season seem to be slimming.

But if there is no 2011 season, how will that affect the 2012 NFL draft?

Keep in mind, that if a player who is drafted doesn’t sign with the team that drafted him, he is eligible to re-enter the following year’s draft. 

So if there is no season, wouldn’t that essentially negate the entire 2011 draft?

While the mere possibility of an event like this may send fear into the hearts of many NFL general managers, they may want to consider this.

If every pick from this year’s draft must re-enter and a whole batch of new talent is entering, the NFL may flirt with the idea of having a double draft.

And after all the scrutiny the Carolina Panthers have received for taking a chance on former Auburn quarterback Cam Newton, there’s no way they would pass on Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck, who was expected to be the No. 1 pick if he didn’t return to school.

The NFL could also expand the draft to 14 rounds to accommodate all the talent that would go undrafted.

However, I’m sure several teams with picks in the bottom of the rounds, such as the New England Patriots, Green Bay Packers and Dallas Cowboys, wouldn’t be too pleased to see the NFL’s bottom-tier teams receive a top-five pick for 14 straight rounds.

The league may be able to borrow a page of out the NHL’s book.

After losing the 2004-2005 season to a lockout, the NHL settled on a lottery system in which all teams had a weighted chance at the first pick.

The lottery was set up so teams with fewer playoff appearances over the last three seasons and fewer No. 1 overall picks over the last four seasons had a better chance of landing a higher pick. It was then conducted in a “snake” style.

As great as a season of football might be, it would almost be interesting to see the lockout continues, just to see if they would experiment with this process.