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What an international NFL expansion draft could look like

Cameron Garrity
·9 min read

The NFL has not so subtly been interested in expanding the league to international markets with games in London, Munich, Frankfurt, Toronto, Tokyo and Mexico City in the past.

If the league wishes to eventually expand internationally, they have two routes, one seeing a franchise like the Carolina Panthers, Houston Texans, Jacksonville Jaguars or other previously rumored teams they’ve considered moving. Or, they could go a simpler route.

The simple route is to just add two more teams, making it 34 total, which is a move that would certainly make the league and its owners more money. The NFL would also likely consider a realignment to make the divisions more travel-friendly, but that’s for another day.

Let’s take a look at a hypothetical expansion.

Mexico City Caracaras

Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports
Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports

The first team added would be Mexico City, the Caracaras, or otherwise known as the Golden Eagles, which is Mexico’s national bird.

Mexico is estimated to have 22 million NFL fans, and it would be easy for travel for most teams. The Caracaras would be in the NFC West with the San Francisco 49ers, Arizona Cardinals, Los Angeles Rams and Seattle Seahawks.

The fan interest would already be there, and all of those teams would have an opportunity to come to Mexico City at least once every year.

London Monarchs

John Gichigi/ALLSPORT
John Gichigi/ALLSPORT

London is probably the most likely European expansion as the NFL has been hosting games more frequently in attempts to win over the estimated 15 million American football fans.

They would need a rebrand, as their logo and uniforms might not be a huge hit in the modern NFL. However, The NFL has proven that travel is possible for multiple teams to play in London, and televising the games would give us football consistently around 10:00 a.m. on the east coast during London home games.

London would likely avoid a ton of west coast games, as those would have to take place early to account for international viewers, but that is a bridge you cross when you get to it. (No London Bridge pun intended)

Expansion rules

Gary Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
Gary Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

The NFL would likely look at the last time they expanded, when they added the Houston Texans in 2002.

The Monarchs and Caracaras would be thrown into a lottery to determine who gets the first pick and who gets the second pick in the upcoming NFL draft. Then all other teams will slot down by record, like usual with the Super Bowl winner picking 34th overall.

Prior to the (let’s use 2024) NFL draft, each team would name five players to be selected (we will go over who later).

Both expansion teams would take turns selecting players, inverse of who has the better pick in the 2023 draft. In this scenario, the Caracaras were awarded the first overall selection. So the Monarchs are allowed to choose their veteran players first.

There are some rules to these selections. Each team is required to select at least 30 players from the 160 made available.

If a player is taken from a club, they can remove one player from the list, and if two players are taken, the club can revoke the remaining players off the list. But they are not required to do so.

The teams cannot put punters or kickers on the list or players that were on injured reserve the season prior (ending on IR is ok in our scenario if at least 12 games were played). They also can only put one veteran with more than 10 years of league experience. UFAs typically do not count, but since the offseason just ended and teams either cut the easy cap casualties, created room with extensions, or added new players, it really lowers the pool available.

Both teams will assume the contract fully of players they select, and players selected received $10,000 immediately, an additional $20,000 bonus for reporting to training camp, and another $30,000 for making the active roster during the regular season.

Draft eligible list

In this scenario, we went ahead and added five players based on the above rules to be selected by the Caracaras and the Monarchs. This is based off of what we know today, which means some stars may be on the move.

The Monarchs will go first, but they’d go second in the NFL entry draft and vice versa for the Caracaras.

Arizona Cardinals:

Atlanta Falcons:

  • LT Jake Matthews

  • TE Jonnu Smith

  • WR Mack Hollins

  • EDGE Bud Dupree

  • CB Darren Hall

Baltimore Ravens

Buffalo Bills

  • CB Taron Johnson

  • WR Deonte Harty

  • CB Siran Neal

  • OT Spencer Brown

  • OT Brandon Shell

Carolina Panthers

Chicago Bears

Cincinnati Bengals

Cleveland Browns

Dallas Cowboys

Denver Broncos

  • WR KJ Hamler

  • WR Lil’Jordan Humphrey

  • OG William Sherman

  • EDGE Christopher Allen

  • S Kareem Jackson

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

Kansas City Chiefs

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Chargers

Los Angeles Rams

  • TE Hunter Long

  • TE Tyler Higbee

  • RB Cam Akers

  • DT Jonah Williams

  • WR Van Jefferson

Miami Dolphins

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

New Orleans Saints

  • OG Andrus Peat

  • QB/TE Taysom Hill

  • WR Michael Thomas

  • WR Tre’Quan Smith

  • QB Jameis Winston

New York Giants

  • RB Matt Breida

  • QB Tyrod Taylor

  • CB Aaron Robinson

  • WR Collin Johnson

  • OT Matt Peart

New York Jets

  • OT Duane Brown

  • WR Corey Davis

  • WR Denzel Mims

  • TE C.J. Uzomah

  • FB Nick Bawden

Philadelphia Eagles

  • OG Josh Sills

  • WR Quez Watkins

  • QB Ian Book

  • RB Kennedy Brooks

  • WR Britain Covey

Pittsburgh Steelers

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

  • WR Russell Gage

  • QB Kyle Trask

  • OG Aaron Stinnie

  • RB Ke’Shawn Vaughn

  • EDGE Shaquil Barrett

Tennessee Titans

  • QB Ryan Tannehill

  • OG Daniel Brunskill

  • DT Denico Autry

  • LB Monty Rice

  • CB Chris Jackson

Washington Commanders

  • CB Danny Johnson

  • TE Logan Thomas

  • S Troy Apke

  • OT Cornelius Lucas

  • OG Aaron Monteiro

Expansion draft

Sticking with the at least 30 rule, we had each team taking the minimum and opting to fill the other 23 spots with remaining free agents, undrafted rookies, draft picks and potential trades with existing franchises.

  1. London Monarchs – OT David Bakhtiari

  2. Mexico City Caracaras –  OT Jonah Williams

  3. London Monarchs –  QB Ryan Tannehill

  4. Mexico City Caracaras – QB Jared Goff

  5. London Monarchs – CB Xavien Howard

  6. Mexico City Caracaras – WR Michael Gallup

  7. London Monarchs – DT Grover Stewart

  8. Mexico City Caracaras – CB Taron Johnson

  9. London Monarchs – WR Keenan Allen

  10. Mexico City Caracaras – RB Cam Akers

  11. London Monarchs – S Harrison Smith

  12. Mexico City Caracaras – WR Kendrick Bourne

  13. London Monarchs – WR Corey Davis

  14. Mexico City Caracaras – DT Javon Kinlaw

  15. London Monarchs – TE Will Dissly

  16. Mexico City Caracaras – EDGE Shaquil Barrett

  17. London Monarchs – EDGE Chandler Jones

  18. Mexico City Caracaras – CB Darious Williams

  19. London Monarchs – RB Clyde Edwards-Helaire

  20. Mexico City Caracaras – OT Tytus Howard

  21. London Monarchs – OG Cody Whitehair

  22. Mexico City Caracaras -WR Kj Hamler

  23. London Monarchs – DT Shy Tuttle

  24. Mexico City Caracaras – EDGE Tyus Bowser

  25. London Monarchs – OT Jake Matthews

  26. Mexico City Caracaras – OG Andrus Peat

  27. London Monarchs – OG Josh Sills

  28. Mexico City Caracaras – S Troy Apke

  29. London Monarchs – EDGE Dennis Gardeck

  30. Mexico City Caracaras – WR Donovan Peoples-Jones

  31. London Monarchs – WR Van Jefferson

  32. Mexico City Caracaras – DT Roy Robertson-Harris

  33. London Monarchs – QB Gardner Minshew

  34. Mexico City Caracaras – EDGE Romeo Okwara

  35. London Monarchs – CB Mike Hilton

  36. Mexico City Caracaras – QB Andy Dalton

  37. London Monarchs – C Jake Hanson

  38. Mexico City Caracaras – LB Cameron McGrone

  39. London Monarchs – OG Michael Dunn

  40. Mexico City Caracaras – OT Spencer Brown

  41. London Monarchs – RB Justice Hill

  42. Mexico City Caracaras – OG Hjalte Froholdt

  43. London Monarchs – CB Darren Hall

  44. Mexico City Caracaras – QB Case Keenum

  45. London Monarchs – S Rayshawn Jenkins

  46. Mexico City Caracaras – EDGE Mike Danna

  47. London Monarchs – RB Brandon Bolden

  48. Mexico City Caracaras – RB Joshua Kelley

  49. London Monarchs – LB Jacob Phillips

  50. Mexico City Caracaras – RB Matt Breida

  51. London Monarchs – QB Jameis Winston

  52. Mexico City Caracaras – CB Jalen Mills

  53. London Monarchs – OT Duane Brown

  54. Mexico City Caracaras – CB Aaron Robinson

  55. London Monarchs – DT Ross Blacklock

  56. Mexico City Caracaras -WR Denzel Mims

  57. London Monarchs – EDGE Quincy Roche

  58. Mexico City Caracaras – OG Daniel Brunskill

  59. London Monarchs – LB Oren Burks

  60. Mexico City Caracaras – TE Durham Smythe

New-look rosters prior to NFL draft

We’ll save the speculation to you to determine where these teams go in the draft, or how they plan to fill out the remaining roster. But after the 2023 expansion draft is over, here is how the two new teams would look on paper:

London Monarchs

QB – Tannehill, Minshew, Winston

RB – Edwards-Helaire, Hill, Bolden,

WR – Allen, Davis, Jefferson

TE – Dissly

LT – Bakhtiari, Brown

LG – Whitehair, Dunn

C – Hanson

RG – Sills

RT – Matthews

 

EDGE – Jones, Gardeck, Roche

DT –  Stewart, Tuttle, Blacklock

LB – Phillips, Burks

CB – Howard, Hilton, Hall

S – Smith, Jenkins

Mexico City Caracaras

QB – Goff, Dalton, Keenum

RB – Akers, Kelley, Breida

WR – Gallup, Bourne, Hamler, Peoples-Jones, Mims

TE – Smythe

LT – Williams

LG – Froholdt

C –

RG – Peat, Brunskill

RT – Howard, Brown

 

EDGE- Barrett, Bowser, Okwara, Danna

DT-  Kinlaw, Robertson-Harris

LB – McGrone,

CB – Johnson, Williams, Mills, Robinson

S – Apke

Story originally appeared on Patriots Wire