I would actually like to see rookies get paid at the minimum salary for their draft position for 1 year. Then after that 1 year they get to negotiate their first contract with the team that drafted them. That way, their NFL potential has been judged, not their college potential.
It is unfair for guys who have been in the league for 10 years to be paid less than a decoy running back.
That's funny you say that. I had cut out about 75% of my original post, which contained that very scenario.
1. Top 10 draft picks (overall) get paid the highest rookie base salary. But because of the new rookie re-negotiation week at week eight (see below) there would be no more $50 million "men" who get a huge payday for doing nothing. The current system of paying that much money to a rookie is absurd and has spiraled downward to the point of being a very archaic and antiquated system. It's appalling, IMO. We need to start low, and then build up higher after the player(s) hit week eight of the regular season.
2. Everyone else in the draft (after the Top 10 picks overall) is on a very gradual decrease from there on out. This way, there is still incentive to be at the top of your draft class. Keeping Top 10 salaries higher than the rest of the rookies helps to sustain the hype of who's moving up the board and who's moving down the board, etc. It keeps a certain "prestige" in place...allowing us to banter about who's better than everyone else, and it allows room for error when there's 1-to-5 (or more) potential "top guys" in the draft. This way, you know that being No. 1 overall is just as good as being No. 10--Face it, an NFL team should DESIRE to pick number 1 because they want a guy that might be gone by the time it fell to them...instead, we get NOBODY wanting to trade up to get Reggie Bush because they don't want to pay big money for him AND pay with compensatory draft picks to move up. This helps teams to be able to jockey up to the front of the draft because now the salary risk is not so high--You can live with giving up a draft pick here and there, but adding the extra weight of a bloated rookie's salary for such a move is the silver bullet IMO.
3. After week eight of the season, each NFL team and the agents of their rookie players enter into re-negotiation based upon certain criteria such as (A) Snaps taken (B) Stats up to that point, including a grade against other rookies in similar positions and/or the entire league itself. So the agent of a player like Colston knows that at week eight his player is getting a better contract due to his players' performance. The structure of rookie salaries wold be handled by (A) NFL ownership and (B) NFLPA. They would hammer out how to make it a mutually beneficial relationship for all involved. What that looks like (in my minds eye) is difficult to articulate, but I would think it could be structured fairly across the board. I think Veterans desire to see that the youngsters earn their way up the food chain. And I think ownership desires to see that they can re-distribute their currently bloated rookie salaries to more veteran players who have truly earned it.
I know there's a lot ot this idea, and it has a lot of pitfalls and head-scratching moments.
There just has to be a way to stop the insanity of rookies being able to Ryan Leaf their way to a huge bonus and never really even play the game at all.
I think it would put the NFL that much farther ahead of other professional sports if they would tighten up the rookie salaries and make it a privilege again to be a rookie in a pro sports league.
For al of the NBA's troubles...I think they are gaining ground on the NFL in recent years. They are building momentum. They have a commissioner who doesn't jack around, and he gets things the way he wants them.
so this is helping the Saints win !!!!
