The NFL is a flawed system

Posted on October 30th, 2007. Written by Emmett Jones.

Lets play a game, I’m going to describe two NFL players to you, and then you tell me who should be paid the most money.

Quarterback #1: This QB has only been a starter for a season and a half. He started last year with a 5-1 record before finishing the season with a 6-4 record. He was named to the Pro Bowl in 2007 while also leading his team to a playoff birth. His stats after last season? Nearly 3000 yards passing, 19 Touchdowns, and a QB rating of 95.1. This season? his team is 6-1, he’s thrown for nearly 2000 yards, he’s thrown 16 Touchdowns and has a QB rating of 95.6.

Quarterback #2: This QB is a rookie and has yet to play a snap in the NFL. He was a contract holdout for a record 47 days this past summer, and he was the number one overall draft pick in the 2007 draft.

Quarterback #1 was recently signed to a 6 year $67.5 million dollar contract extension with $30 million in guaranteed money

Quarterback #2 was signed to a 6 year $68 million dollar deal, with $32 million in guaranteed money

Quarterback 1 is Tony Romo and Quarterback 2 is JaMarcus Russell.

Anybody else think something might be wrong with NFL rookie contracts? In the corporate world,  someone with no experience, but a good college resume, could not come in and make as much as a CEO who has already established himself; maybe got the company out of a big jam, or signed a billion dollar account or something. So, why does this work in the NFL? Well, to be honest with you, I’m not sure, but I do have 3 ideas.

1. Obviously teams are willing to pay rookies a great deal of money because of the interest a rookie can generate. Often times, I think NFL fans take a rookie’s college career and extrapolate it into a god-like NFL career. Think about it, how many times has a player been drafted and branded as his team’s “Messiah”? The average fan’s positive thinking about their new “franchise player” leads to greater ticket because they have an exciting new player to watch and build their team around (look at the excitement Reggie Bush generated last year in New Orleans). Obviously, NFL agents are using this line of thinking when they’re negotiating player contracts…the bigger the impact a player will have on a team’s revenue, the bigger the dollar signs.

2. Fans think that the new rookie signing is the “missing piece”; the only thing keeping their team from winning the Super Bowl and they want to get on the bandwagon (i.e. spend their money on team apparel, tickets, etc.) as soon as possible. Again, agents take this into consideration, and they argue that their client is the missing link, and therefore, their client deserves a lot of money.

3. Basic inflation. Contracts always go up, and NFL rookies are no exception.

Obviously, based on my previous statements, I’m arguing, not that veteran contracts aren’t high enough (Romo’s deal gives him the 3rd highest annual salary amongst NFL QB’s), but that rookie contracts are too high. So, what’s the solution? Well, unfortunately, there isn’t one, unless an addendum to the CBA is made which sets the salaries of rookies (i.e. The first pick automatically gets a 3 year $30 million dollar contract, the second pick gets a 2 year $28 million dollar contract, etc.). I’m highly doubting that anything like this will ever happen though, because it wouldn’t be in the best interests of the NFLPA (why would they allow the money of their players they represent to be limited?)

So, we’re left with a league that has unproven players making the same or money money than proven players. The NFL is a very flawed system in this respect, but we’ve reached a point of no return now; its going to be a very difficult system to fix.

I just hope that everyone can still sleep at night knowing that for the first three years of Joe Montana’s career? He made 1,900 times less than Alex Smith is making on his first contract. Now obviously, its a different type of game now, and teams are pulling down insane amounts of revenue in comparison to their 1980′s counterparts, but, I’m not convinced that its not just more money to pump into a flawed system. Don’t believe me? ask Tony Romo and JaMarcus Russell how much money they’re making next year.

UPDATE: Looks like the guys over at Ick’s Corner have some similar thoughts on these contract issues.

ESPN: Romo’s new deal guarantees $30 million to QB

Sports Business Digest: The Oakland Raiders finally have the 3rd or 4th string QB they’ve been looking for!

3 Responses »

1. 

   IcksCorner

   November 1, 2007 • 6:16 pm

   Man, once again Emmett.. You hit the nail on the head.. Teams are throwing stupid money at these rookies coming out of college.. when they have proven nothing at the next level! Dont even get me started on JaMarcus Russell.. we have talked about him during his holdout! When you get a chance check out my blog, and look for the post called a better day.. I think you will enjoy it.. its my thoughts and opinions of the state of sports and contracts today! Hope all is well with you.. love the new site!

   J

Additional comments powered by BackType