Lottery picks and changing age limits: how to improve the NFL draft

The draft is supposed to ensure parity across the league. But it also helps teams retain power over players as they turn professional

The NFL draft sells hope. In fans' imagination draft prospects are anything they want them to be. When the draft starts in Las Vegas on Thursday, fans can dream that their team is one pick, one draft class away from becoming a Super Bowl contender.

That is the kindest reading, the one that views the draft as a way to ensure competitive balance, of the league legislating parity. Another reading: it's an exercise in wage suppression, giving as much money as possible to veterans at the expense of the young pups coming into the league. Some may say that it also serves as a way for the league and its franchises to exert control over new employees from the outset: they don't get to choose where they'll work or live; they're sent to whatever outpost is dictated to them, their income decided by the rookie wage scale.