National Football League

Spring football league coming in 2017

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 1:57 p.m. ET

Fansided, Brad Berreman/Fansided

A minor league system for NFL player development has never really gained traction, but someone will take a shot at it in 2017.

Back in the 1980’s, the USFL had a lot of talented players that eventually played in the NFL. But the league (or then team owner Donald Trump) started to push toward playing alongside the NFL during the fall, and ultimately folded. The XFL was a WWE-driven gimmick in the early 2000’s, with some innovations that were ahead of the curve, but it ultimately had no staying power.

Competing with the NFL is not viable, but any league that could be a pipeline to it for players hasn’t stuck. Players do come to the NFL from the CFL, but that’s rare and hardly a way to cultivate high level football players.

Now, a step toward establishing something resembling a minor league for the NFL is coming.

In April of 2017, a spring football league with four teams that will practice and play games over a three-week stretch. With players on current NFL rosters ineligible to participate, it looks like an effort to give those that would ordinarily fall between the cracks an opportunity to shine.

Surely not coincidentally, the spring football league will end the day before the 2017 NFL Draft starts in Philadelphia. It’s unclear if the spring league will go beyond 2017, or even add more teams, but both of those things probably depend on what happens during its first year.