NFL Labor Update: Deal Reportedly Reached On Rookie Wage Scale
by Christopher Gates on Mar 9, 2011 4:18 PM CST
in NFL
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PrintPro Football Talk is reporting that the NFL owners and players have reached an agreement on a rookie wage scale as part of their ongoing negotiations.
According to PFT, here's what the compromise looks like.
-Rookie contracts for first-round picks will be limited to four years. Currently, players taken in the first 16 picks of the first round can sign for as long as six years, and the remaining first rounders can sign for as long as five years.
-Players drafted after the first round would be limited to three-year contracts, and become restricted free agents in the fourth year.
According to Jason Cole of Yahoo! Sports, there is also expected to be language in the compromise that will limit the amount of guaranteed money and signing bonuses offered to draft picks.
The initial proposal from the owners called for the first overall pick in the draft to be given a maximum five-year contract worth $19 million, only $6 million of which would have been guaranteed. To contrast, last year's #1 pick, Sam Bradford, signed a six-year, $72 million contract with $50 million in guaranteed money. (The league backed off of that one, but nobody knows how far at this point.)
Also expected to be included in the deal is language to make it easier for owners to recoup money from players that get in trouble with the law. This likely stems from what happened with Michael Vick, who Judge David Doty ruled could keep over $20 million in signing bonus money, even after going to prison on charges stemming from the dog fighting ring he was running.
So, there's some progress. . .of course, if they can't get an agreement on the bigger issues, this ultimately won't matter, but it's a bit of positivity in any case.
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Hmmm.
Well, progress is progress. Still, I saw this particular issue as one that was never going to be that big of a sticking point. As I wrote before, I always viewed the key opposition to the rookie wage scale coming from the agents, who have a very limited say in this whole negotiation.
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Agreed
The rookies have no representation in the NFLPA, so I imagined it would have become very easy to come to an agreement regarding the rookie wage scale. Automatic certification is pretty bad for rookies and allowed the owners to leverage it to get costs down. Hopefully, this will give the players a little leverage in the cost-control portion of the overall negotiations.
It was something I imagine both sides essentially agreed upon. You can’t tell me that hard working, proven vets weren’t chafing when these rookies came in and made 2, 3 times the amount without playing a single snap. And you know the owners are thrilled they don’t have to deal with the financial fallouts that happen with a bust.
Hail the Minnesota Vikings, ye mortals.
All other NFL fans are heretics.
www.dailynorseman.com- THE place for true Viking fanatics.
I agree. Of all the issues, the rookie scale was the easiest.
The 18 game schedule is a tougher nut, but one the players would ‘probably’ concede for roster increases and/or safety and vestment considerations.
The big issue is and has been the money off the top. And they’re nowhere near an agreement on that. There’s no way an agreement on that is coming without either the owners opening the books or accepting a serious reduction in their demand for money off the top.
At this point, I’d put both of those in the ‘not bloody likely’ category. I hope I’m wrong. But I don’t see it.
by Shawn Gillogly on Mar 9, 2011 6:39 PM CST up reply actions
Of course the players would like to get paid more
But if you remember, they players liked it the way it was. The owners opted out of the currect CBA. If you told the players we’d be going back to the same CBA, they would be fine with that. The owners want the players to both take a pay cut(smaller % of the pie) AND play the 18-game schedule(increase the size of the pie). I don’t think the owners truly care that much about the 18-game schedule. They’ve been preaching that it’s a “deal-breaker” this whole time to have that as additional leverage. If not leverage, something to at least “give in” if a compromise is being made. I think the owners would be willing to give into the 18-games if the players would take the paycut. You can tell the owners have been planning this for a while. They’re bringing as much ammo as they can find. They’re asking for double what they already get! And expecting the players to just take it off the chin.
Skol!
this is nice to hear
would this impact the vikes decision to draft a qb with #12 this year? Knowing that he wouldn’t be getting Favre money.
Doubt that.
I mean, if we like a QB at #12, I think we were going to draft him regardless. This is good news for the league as a whole, however. The whole system with top round picks was quite messed up anyways.
Hail the Minnesota Vikings, ye mortals.
All other NFL fans are heretics.
www.dailynorseman.com- THE place for true Viking fanatics.
I think we'll see a bigger difference in the top-3 picks
Eh, maybe even the top-5. Teams that have struggled year in and year out(Bills, Browns, Lions) would be more apt to pick a QB w/ their top-5 pick. They could almost pick a QB every other year until they find someone that works(not to say they should throw around QBs like that), but like with Jamarcus, they wouldn’t have to shell out some serious coin for a bust AND (financially anyways) HAVE to start them. If they see he’s an absolute bust, they can throw him to the side faster. I think we’re going to see a lot of solid QBs get tossed after the first 3/4 years(whether that’s from a bad coaching staff/environment/bad and see careers rejuvenated with other teams.
Skol!
Good news
For many different reasons
A.) Owners and Players agreeing on something
B.) Missing on a top 5 pick won’t set your franchise back so many years
C.) Top 5 picks are now valuable again
Formerly thewild_viking_twins. Because my old profile was kidnapped by ninjas, and I was NOT a bad enough dude to rescue it...
And we thought we had Parity in the NFL right now?
Welcome back TRUE parity. One downside i see in this: Free Agency is going to get MESSY!
Skol!
Wow, that's great
I don’t disagree with any of that. Hope they keep compromising, and stop this annoyance.
13.
Glad to hear there is some progress.
It won’t clear up all the issues between the NFLPA and the owners, but it’s still one issue down. The thought of a lockout is really depressing, so I’m going to be encouraged by any and all progress in these negotiations.
Life being what it is, one dreams of revenge.
- Paul Gauguin
Nice
First off Rookie contracts were getting rediculous. This seems a much better situation. Sedondly it’s always nice to see people starting to come together, remember last week we didn’t even have this…
It's a lot easier to love the Vikings when they win...
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