Miami Dolphins offensive tackle Jake Long is one of the highest paid players in the history of the NFL at his position. New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning was able to demand that a blockbuster trade be put in place so that he could play in the market of his choice. John Elway did the same thing when he was being drafted in 1983, the only difference then was that rookies in the 80’s were at least getting modest contracts. Now days first round draft picks in the NFL are making more money than the accomplished veterans in the league before even playing one snap as a professional. It is now time to say enough is enough.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has finally started speaking publicly about the ridiculous salaries of NFL rookies and stated that something has to change. Head of the NFL players union Gene Upshaw disagrees and thinks that the statements made by Goodell were offensive and unnecessary. I like most people in the world think that Upshaw should shut up because there is no way you can defend the type of money these kids are making before even doing anything to earn it what so ever.
Since I was about 10 years old I have loved watching and following the NFL draft from the first pick through the seventh round, but a question I’ve always asked even when I was a kid was “why do these players that are yet to play make more money than the players that have already shown they can play?” And it makes me so happy to see that the commissioner is finally treating this like an issue that needs to be dealt with.
It’s ridiculous that players can come into this league with absolutely nothing to show for themselves and start making demands. I was actually offended on a serious level when Eli Manning pulled that stunt on draft day by publicly stating that the team with the first pick the San Diego Chargers were not a good enough organization for him to play for. Manning got what he wished for and was traded to the Giants.
However it’s not just the football owes me something attitude that players seem to have these days that’s killing me. It’s the consensus that we must pay these kids millions upon millions of dollars to get them on the football field. These contracts are killing football, now more than ever kids will get drafted, demand a hefty ransom in guaranteed money, never perform and are still set for life and never have to do anything again.
Something has to be done sooner than later and while I have not heard Commissioner Goodell’s exact solution I’ve thought of one myself that would surely cure this growing financial problem among rookies.
In the NBA each first round pick gets a guaranteed 3-year contract with the team that selected them. Players don’t often hold out or demand to be traded. If the NFL adopted something like that rookies would not just get more modest contracts, but they would receive better incentive to play harder and earn more money.
For example say Tim Tebow of the Florida Gators was the number one overall pick in the 2009 NFL draft. Tebow would get a guaranteed contract of five years with the team that drafted him, with x amount of dollars in total money, and x amount of dollars in guaranteed money. Then the number two pick overall would receive a similar contract of five years just with a bit less guaranteed money and total money. The amount of money in each contract would keep decreasing until the last pick in the first round. For players being drafted from the second round on there would be no set contracts, but their signability would be much higher based on the contracts set in place in the first round.
If the NFL put this proposal in play players would have no way of complaining or threaten to hold out, because hey they don’t deserve to hold out. Players would shut up and play quicker and would also play harder. In addition to all that since there would be no hold outs, players would get into rookie training camp faster which would contribute greatly to their development as a professional football player.
Now for those of you on the players side of this, (if there are any of you besides Gene Upshaw) then don’t write this off immediately. The salaries of the first round picks would still be worth a lot of money, just not more money than any pro-bowler at their position. Because if you think that rookies should make more money than the best of the best before even hitting the field I know the number of a great psychiatrist I could put you in touch with.
1 comment:
Why do you know a psychiatrist's number? And how do you know he's great? Is there something you should be telling us?
I agree that they're being paid too much, though. But I also think that everyone should be paid less. In fact, they should make the players who are sitting on the bench sell concessions. Doesn't seem very productive to just have them sitting there. And think how much people would pay for Cracker Jacks sold from Randy Moss.
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