π Barnwell's 'Domestic Cup of American Football'
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- Bill Barnwell designed a hypothetical 'Domestic Cup of American Football' (DCAF) tournament, splitting the NFL's active players into eight regional teams inspired by the FIFA World Cup and rugby's State of Origin competition.
- Rosters are 30-man lineups built for a hypothetical September 2026 kickoff, with rigid positional requirements: two QBs, one RB, three WRs, one TE, six offensive linemen, and one bonus skill player on offense, plus three edge rushers, three DTs, two LBs, six DBs, a kicker, and a punter.
- Eligibility is determined by where each player attended high school, using Pro-Football-Reference.com data, with no trades between regions permitted and dual-eligibility players assigned based on realistic roster fit.
- California, Florida, and Texas each received their own dedicated teams because of their dominant NFL talent pipelines β California alone produced 287 active NFL players, more than every other state except Texas and Florida.
- A Pacific Northwest team (Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington, Wyoming) was scrapped because it would have fielded only 94 active NFL players, too few to build a competitive 30-man roster.
- Injuries and retirements exclude several stars: Patrick Mahomes, George Kittle, and Micah Parsons are listed as 'touch-and-go' for September 2026, Tyreek Hill is out, and retired players like Joel Bitonio, Drew Dalman, Tom Brady, and Aaron Donald are ineligible, while 2026 rookies can participate.
Why it matters: The exercise exposes the NFL's extreme geographic concentration of talent: California alone supplies 287 active players, while a combined seven-state Pacific Northwest region could muster only 94 β meaning any 'best-on-best' American tournament would be wildly lopsided by region regardless of format. It also reveals which positions run deepest where, with Barnwell noting some regions are '10-deep at one position with Pro Bowl-caliber players' yet 'can't even field an NFL starter in his prime at another.'
