It has announced that there will be a “spring league” for veteran free agent players in 2017. The news was first broke by Sirius XM NFL Radio. ProFootballTalk reports that the league has nothing to do with the NFL, despite it being for NFL free agents.
NFL Spring League for Veteran Players Set to Launch in 2017
There will be just four teams. All four teams will consist of veteran NFL free agents. All games will be played in West Virginia, according to Sports Illustrated and ESPN. That is also where the teams will train for the upcoming season. The league’s headquarters will be at the Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, WV.
While the NFL will not be running the league, NFL scouts will be allowed to attend. This will give free agents a chance to prove that they belong on an NFL roster once more.
SB Nation reports that the league will run from April 7 to April 26. The league will allegedly be run by the same person that ran the Fall Experimental Football League (FXFL).
According to CBS Sports, the idea of the league came in late November. NFL executive Troy Vincent told Jason La Canfora that the initial idea was for the league to consist of players with less than three years of experience. Not much information was given at the time.
The NFL also sent a memo to all 32 teams with advice on sharing film from the spring league with the scouts and signing the free agents to contracts. In the memo, the NFL also told all teams that failure to comply with procedures of signing a player will lead to discipline.
The NFL is in Week 16. The playoffs begin the weekend of Jan. 8. Super Bowl LI will be played at NRG Stadium in Houston, TX on Sunday, Feb. 5, 2017.
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