Unproven NFL rookies cashing in
So NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell says rookie contracts are out of whack. Gee, you think?
The Miami Dolphins gave offensive tackle Jake Long, the top pick in the draft, a $57.75 million contract with about $30 million guaranteed. Rookie quarterback Matt Ryan, the third overall pick, got a six-year, $72 million deal from the Atlanta Falcons.
I’ve never been too outraged about the money NFL players make. The NFL is an $8 billion a year industry and all 32 teams are collectively worth around $30 billion, so if Long was able to squeeze a $30 million bonus from the Dolphins then more power to him.
What has Goodell all hot and bothered is that Long and Ryan have yet to take a snap in the NFL and are already being paid like they are perennial All- Pros. Goodell called the practice ridiculous.
Goodell does have a point. Ryan making more money than Tom Brady and Long being one of the highest paid offensive linemen in the NFL is a little tough to swallow.
But Goodell lost me when he said last week that a faltering economy and unexpected rising stadium construction costs make it harder to continue paying 60 percent of the league’s revenue to the players. That sounded like Goodell was trying to drum up sympathy for the owners.
Nice try, Commish. No one should feel sorry for the owners because they helped create this mess. It was the owners (minus Ralph Wilson and Mike Brown) who caved and agreed to a collective bargaining agreement that gave the players the store. Now they are opting out of the deal in hopes that a new CBA that they can live with can be drawn up.
Goodell used last week’s comments at the Chautauqua Institution to lobby the Players Association to reform the system that rewards players before they have proved themselves. Basically, Goodell is asking for the union to save the owners from themselves.
But that appeal will fall on deaf ears. Union boss Gene Upshaw sees nothing wrong with the system. He claims the big money top draft picks are getting will benefit the veterans when they negotiate new contracts. We’ll see about that when left tackle Jason Peters and the Bills meet at the bargaining table.
Peters is a better player than Long and that might never change. But are the Bills going to give Peters a contract comparable to Long’s? The Bills can afford to do it, but I find it hard to believe Peters will get that kind of loot.
The NBA has the best model for dealing with rookie salaries. After seeing contracts for top draft picks soar into the stratosphere during the mid-1990s, the NBA and its players union agreed to a fixed wage scale that limits how much rookies can make during their first two or three years. As a result Derrick Rose, the first pick in last week’s NBA draft, won’t get paid more than Kobe Bryant. The money will come later after Rose proves he is worthy of a raise.
This is why the NBA doesn’t have rookie holdouts. This is why NBA general managers and agents don’t haggle over the amount of money given to players who were drafted in the slots before and after.
In the NBA, young players have incentive to work hard and build up a body of work so they get the big payoff down the road.
What is Long’s motivation? He’s going to get $30 million from the Dolphins whether he plays or not. No wonder Goodell wants a rookie pay scale.
He faces a difficult fight to get the players association to agree to that when negotiations on a new labor deal begin this fall. The owners gave up a lot in the last labor agreement. The guess here is the players won’t give it back.
