You knew this was coming out at some point ... and here it comes. NFL commish Roger Goodell has gone on record in saying that the current system of rookie contracts is "ridiculous"."There's something wrong about the system," Goodell said Friday. "The money should go to people who perform."
"[Top overall pick Jake Long] doesn't have to play a down in the NFL and he already has his money," Goodell said during a question-and-answer period at the end of a weeklong sports symposium at the Chautauqua Institution. "Now, with the economics where they are, the consequences if you don't evaluate that player, you can lose a significant amount of money.
"And that money is not going to players that are performing. It's going to a player that never makes it in the NFL. And I think that's ridiculous."
Well, duh. Everyone around football knows that is true and the people who heard him say that applauded him. It is so "ridiculous" that teams are willing to trade out of the top ten picks so they don't get stuck with some bad contract that will kill their cap for years.
Long received a five-year, $57.75 million contract with $30 million of it guaranteed. If he becomes a bust, the Miami Dolphins will be sunk for quite a while.
Goodell says he is in favor of lowering the salaries on incoming players, but allowing them a provision to renegotiate those deals once they've proven themselves on the field.
This comes just one day after the NBA held its draft. The NBA has a salary pay scale that pretty much names the price for every pick in the first round of the draft. Something like that would be extremely difficult in the NFL since the value of the positions vary. A quarterback or a left tackle are usually worth more than a cornerback or tight end.
And this comes just months after the league decided to opt out of the labor agreement with the players, citing financial difficulty and unforeseen events (like the struggling economy) as factors.
Getting the NFLPA to agree to something like this would be interesting. After all, the players who would be affected by such a change aren't in the league yet and aren't members of the union. Also, this could/should mean that more money is freed up for veteran players and the lack of insanely priced rookies means these vets wouldn't be pushed out as much. Still, it is tough to convince players in a "free market" that they cannot obtain their worth.
Just another log on the fire.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-27-2008 @ 4:47PM
BMurph said...
I was present when he said that today around 11:30.
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6-27-2008 @ 5:40PM
Bout Time said...
It's about DAMN TIME!
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6-27-2008 @ 6:09PM
T said...
It's been wrong for a while now. I could never understand why some rookies demand so much money before getting their feet wet in the NFL. Show and prove first before making such high demands. What gets me are the one who get the lucrative contracts and then end up sucking big time.
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6-27-2008 @ 9:53PM
Steve said...
it is no more wrong than an owner like William Clay Ford making the millions HE makes for putting sh*t on the field year after year.
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6-28-2008 @ 12:17AM
George B Vieto said...
Roger Goodell hit the nail on the head with this speech. Pay a player what he is worth after he has played in the league. Not when he is fresh out of college. Prove himself worthy of the money earned first.
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6-28-2008 @ 12:22AM
Pep said...
It is about time something was said. I think Rookies should prove their worth first. They should get a minimum salary and then get incentives for performance
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6-28-2008 @ 2:43AM
Phil said...
Anyone looked at Goodell’s 2007 salary http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/article/118860
How exactly does one quantify the performance of the Commish? How incompewtent would you have to be to muss up the most popular form of entertainment in the country? Ok, let's make the rooks earn it, but let's also make Goodell grab a helmet and run 40 yards through the hash marks during 1 game each week.
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6-28-2008 @ 7:54AM
lk said...
It's about time. Pretty ridiculous when rookies are signing better contracts than some of the best players in the league. I'd be pretty pissed if I was a proven player making less than someone that has not played one NFL game.
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6-29-2008 @ 9:09AM
Jerry Desaulniers said...
I think they should develop a chart with a fixed one year guaranteed wage, based from 1 down to 252. If your picked first you get $5 million guaranteed for the first year and gradually go down to 200 at about $200,000 guaranteed for the first year. Then the teams own the rights to the player for 4 years but must negotiate for the second through fourth year contracts. I believe that a first year guarantee is important because some of these guys will get hurt and never play a down in the NFL. And they did sacrafice many years of their life to get this far. A little token is in order at this point.
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