In A Perfect NFL World.....

Rookies would go through a probation period of two seasons signed to an NFL rookie league minimum with performance-based incentives. This allows rookies and second year players a chance to EARN their money through how well they perform. Also, rookies would be prohibited from hiring agents until this probation period is up or either they could hire an agent to work on contract talks for the third NFL season, but the agents cannot touch anything withthin the probation period.

Since alot of us feel that it takes most players 3 or 4 years to develop, I think this would help owners to invest their money more wisely into players that have proven they can be difference makers on the field. I think this would also lead to players appreciating their contracts more, because they're getting paid, not because of hype, but because of their performance. It also would allow teams to ditch players that turn out to be disappointments.

Now, I realize there would be a concern of health issues, which according to one of the Postons (take it for what it's worth) is their[the agents] major concern for players. Okay, I am not familar with the insurance policies with the NFL, so for now, I would assume that the individual players have some sort of insurance policy. However, in order for the player's union to accept this probation agreement, the NFL would cover the costs of probation players who get hurt on the field, and the teams would cover the cost of players who get hurt during practice.

That way, maybe it would justify the NFL's decision to force a two year probation period on new NFL players. I know alot of players would probably not go for this, but I think this would be pretty fair.

then how would they pay for their bentley's

With the NFL league minimum. :)

It ain't nothing to frown at...

Nice thought in a perfect world, but in this world there's now way the NFLPA would let teams/owners have so much power and control.

exactly. you are seeing it as a world where the teams/owners have all the control. what everyone wants is a league where everyone is happy, including the players. that is a good idea, it just won't happen. the best we can hope for is that they put some sort of restriction on the agents or player's themselves. maybe a limit for how much you can sign a player, so no player could hold out. if they said something like, okay, you can only get paid 50 million the most in this contract for this amount of years, we would see a lot of holdouts disappear.

I think the NBA has something similar right where draft picks are locked into guaranteed 3-year deals (without free agent rights) with a limit on how much they can earn based on where they were drafted. This applies only to first round picks

Some say, however, that this is one reason so many players leave college early or skip it altogether-so that they can get to the second fatter contract that much sooner

I don't know how fair that sounds? doesnt sound fair to me. I believe in free markets forget the cap pay what you can pay to who you can pay it to. Keep free agency as well. Let the free market system dictate who gets paid what by whom.

exactly. you are seeing it as a world where the teams/owners have all the control. what everyone wants is a league where everyone is happy, including the players. that is a good idea, it just won't happen. the best we can hope for is that they put some sort of restriction on the agents or player's themselves. maybe a limit for how much you can sign a player, so no player could hold out. if they said something like, okay, you can only get paid 50 million the most in this contract for this amount of years, we would see a lot of holdouts disappear.


That sort of goes along with a suggestion I had in another thread about salary caps on players and not the team.

I realize with the player's union, they probably wouldn't go along with this, but if you had lets say, the first year rookie making a salary of $500,000 for the first year...that isn't too shabby considering alot of rookies will see limited action or no game play whatsoever. They still have extra monetary incentives that could be earned through how well they play, given the opportunity. The rookie could still see a pretty decent paycheck - and the great thing is he would earn it! :food-smil

Yeah, the NFL doesn't want the owners and the teams to have so much control, but I believe at the sametime, the current policy is not working. The agents are having way too much control over things. I think this is hurting the NFL more than anything.

I don't know how fair that sounds? doesnt sound fair to me. I believe in free markets forget the cap pay what you can pay to who you can pay it to. Keep free agency as well. Let the free market system dictate who gets paid what by whom.


Hahaha...I echoed that same sentiment, yet in another thread, but people said that would be unfair to the smaller market teams.

However, keep in mind, this is not about who can pay out the bigger contract, this is about players earning that contract and knowning that when it comes time for players to get that big contract, the players are earning it, and the team will feel more like they are not taking such a big chance on a player who hasn't had at least a couple years experience in the NFL. By the time the two years are up, the free market of the NFL would still decide how players are paid - the only difference is, you are paying a player for what he is worth.

Actually the cap is giving these agents control.. for example what if let's say there is no salary cap and T.O. wants to hold out then the Eagles could just cut him. Meanwhile they have had rookies on their practice squad capable of just being plugged in and the offense still run fine.. by cutting him they cut his salary and have receivers who have been signed on the team making a considerable amount less but can fill the position therefore making his worth less. Cut him let someone else pay him they already have players making less than him ready to play as well so he has to lower his price and stop his bitching. Capitalism works great fellas.