Sam Bradford, a top draft pick, has recently recovered from a bad shoulder surgery, and his name has yet to appear on the NFL scoreboards. However, he convinced the St. Louis Rams to offer him no less than $50 million over five years.
Tom Brady has never received so much cash from the New England Patriots, and that is after leading them to numerous Super Bowls, and after playing at the very highest level for many years. He is not complaining about his deal, however, and seems to truly appreciate what the NFL has given him.m.
Rookies are demanding inordinate sums of money, and NFL directors realize that something is very wrong with all this. For the rookie salary cap will be of great importance when the league and the players strike out a new agreement next year, when the current one expires. In many ways, this will be a defining moment for the league. Like in many sports, the wage bill of teams has spiralled out of control in recent years.
As good as these young rookies are, it is somewhat crazy to offer a player $50 million who has yet to prove himself in the NFL, particularly as past performances in the college game, no matter how good, cannot guarantee that a player will perform in the NFL. In fact, many outstanding college players have flopped in the big league.
Teams are rolling a dice when they pay rookies so much. They will spend around $600 million alone on this year’s rookies, and somewhere along the line there are bound to be costly mistakes. Some of these players will turn out to be worthwhile investments, whilst some will never even appear on the football scoreboards. This is one big reason why owners will be looking for the introduction of a rookie salary cap when the negations take place.
In contrast, the player’s union will naturally be looking to keep the status quo. Knowing that they need to give some concessions, they have proposed to the league to shorten rookie contracts to three years, from the standard five that they are at now, but only if the league spends the money saved on improving pensions for retired players.
Most likely, the teams will get their way, and a rookie salary cap will be introduced with little given back in return. Finally the players will be reigned in! For sure there is an abundance of cash in the NFL, even if some team owners claim that there isn’t. The NFL receives huge sums of money from highly lucrative television rights as well as from ticket sales. A salary cap, if it is properly negotiated, would ensure that this money filters down through the ranks, and generally gets spread
around more equally.
For more information, go to: nfl.com