Rookie Salaries - Out of Control

Is there any reason that the NFL can't go to a slotting system like the NBA, where the league determines that #1 gets $X million, #2 gets $Y, etc...?

This would solve two problems: there would be no holdouts because of contract negotiations and the league could simply set rookie salaries at a reasonable threshold.

I think rookies shouldn't get paid a ton - they should have to perform in the NFL and get paid with their second contract. Rookies - even 1st rounders - are no better than a 50/50 chance of being any good in the NFL, so this would protect the teams, their salary caps and the league as a whole.

Players would have to deal with it if it was league wide.

I saw in an article on CNNSI that Freeney just got $30M (guaranteed)as the best pass rusher over the past few years in the NFL, where Joe Thomas got $23 (guaranteed) without ever taking a snap. What if he's not all that good (ala Gallery)?

QB's rarely play in the first couple of seasons. I mean, if Campbell turns out to be as good as we are hoping he'll be, we'll have to pay him huge $$ to keep him, even though he hasn't done crap for 3 years.

It just makes good sense to have rookies all sign 3-year deals for low $$ (but still making more than any of us) and then after that they can go to the bank if they actually performed.

Is there something I'm missing?

I'm in total agreement. Basically Landry's contract is the starting point if we want to retain Taylor and Landry hasn't even played a snap!

Yeah Rookie Contracts are out of control and they are forcing teams in the league to pay not only the ridiculous rookie contract but, then Free Agents are getting dumb money as well. They better be raising the salary cap by leaps and bounds each year or the teams aren't going to be able to pay these guys each year. The fact that each year the rookies get richer and richer would have a guy like Sean Taylor pissed about his contract. Now if you have a top flight reciever you are basing his contract around the 6 year 64 mill contract of Calvin Johnson. Another guy who is pissed about his contract is the Allen Fanneca. All reasonable gripes when the rookies who could just suck get this huge amount of money.

Now will it ever get fixed? I doubt it since they just did the collective bargaining agreement last year. I mean is a guy like Derick Dockery worth all the money he got? Or the lineman in Dallas who sucked as a Cardinal? No.

I'd like to see the NFL adopt a rookie structure like the NBA has.. You get a 3 year contract with a team option for the 4th year and a player option for the 5th. Your contract $$ are pre-determined by your draft slot and you never see NBA holdouts. All of this foolishness that Quinn is doing in Cleveland and Russell in Oakland wouldn't be happening, nor would the Freeney/Thomas example mentioned above.

I think the NFL should insert a "BUST" clause for all first round draft picks so that the team that drafted them can recoup some of that guranteed money and use it on some hard working vets!

I have to say that I think all NFL contracts are starting to get out of control. They'll be seeing baseball money soon enough. I am also in agreement that rooks make way too much. It disturbs me that Landry got so much money because I don't know how Taylor is going to react. His agent (Rosenhaus?) has got to be pissed. Hopefully it doesn't cause too many hard feelings and the two sides can come to an agreement on an extension when the time comes, but it certainly makes me nervous.

I've said a few times that I think the NFL should enact a rule similar to MLB's 10/5 rule. However, I don't think it should be 10/5, maybe 7/5. Essentially a player would have to have been in the league for at least 7 years and on the same team for 5. That team would then be able "tag" him to excluding him from being counted against the cap. The spirit of the rule being to keep Montana and Rice in SF, Emmitt in Dallas and Art Monk in Washington. However, I'm sure that it would somehow become a slap in the face to a player to be designated with such a tag, much the same way the franchise tag is today. I would grant each team 1 or 2 of these tags. Maybe it could be the same salary structure as the franchise tag (average of the league's top 5 highest paid) that wouldn't count against your cap.

However, that system would benefit fans and players more than owners, so it will probably never happen...this is, after all, the NFL we're talking about.

I agree, rookies have way too much leverage in the NFL. We saw what happened in the NBA with players like Glenn Robinson demanding contracts nearly equivalent to the value of the franchise. That is kind of the way the NFL is heading, especially this year with all that new money floating around.

Yeah, they are out of control for sure, they definitely need to adopt a new system. Something like: For the first round, the #1 pick makes 10 mil guaranteed, the #2 pick makes 9.5 mil guaranteed, and so on. After the first round, you get paid the same if you were picked 1st in the second round or last in the second round, same for third round etc. That way you are still rewarding the guys picked in the first round with bigger contracts, but not with a ridiculous amount of money without knowing if the guys talents will translate to the NFL. I dunno...could work.

The rookies are getting way overpaid. It will actually turn out to be an advantage for teams that draft lower in round one -ie. the good teams- because they won't have to shell out exorbitant guarantees to their rookies. A top 5 pick team that busts on a rookie now is crippled for a long time. Could through off our beloved parity if we don't watch out.

Of course, nothing but the signing bonus is guaranteed in the NFL. Whereas every penny is guaranteed in the NBA.