Roger Goodell To Rookies: Your Salaries Are Crazy

by Dave Choate on Jun 28, 2008 11:20 AM EDT in NFL News

I've noted in this space how insane I think rookie contracts are. You get a guy like Matt Ryan who has never actually played at the NFL level signing a contract so huge and unwieldy that he can't get it in the front door of his mansion and has to build a swimming pool made entirely out of $10 bills just to use some of it. It's insane.

Never one to shy away from enforcement, it now appears that Darth Commish Roger Goodell is taking aim at those ginormous rookie contracts (WARNING: video probably NSFW):

Oh, I'm sorry. That's Shaq asking Kobe to tell him how his ass tastes. Still, the message is essentially the same:

"There's something wrong about the system," Goodell said Friday. "The money should go to people who perform."

Now, I'm not advocating a shiny copper penny for rookies. There's just got to be some impetus for a rookie to perform well that doesn't involve gobs of money. Veterans who have showed their prowess on the field get pretty fired up about this issue, and rookies themselves can make unwise decisions with their money (see Jones, formerly known as Pacman). So I'm all for some kind of rookie spending cap, especially with Goodell's stipulation that guys who prove themselves on the field will be able to re-up. If he's willing to put a little muscle behind that to entice teams to actually negotiate, so much the better.

Thoughts?

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I see it both ways

First of all, there already is a salary cap for rookie salaries, isn’t there? So would you like to see the cap lessened? I am assuming yes. Just give me a heads up though.

"You never know what I'm going to do..."
- Michael Vick (Palm Beach Post 11/6/2005)

by jamesrael on Jun 28, 2008 3:51 PM EDT reply actions

Make it happen!

The teams are likely all for this. Goodell’s views have a lot of common sense behind them. The league can’t let salaries keep growing (as a portion of revenues) forever.

Isn’t this something that has to be written into the CBA? I doubt that the teams could implement this kind of thing unilaterally.

"There's no such word as 'quit' in swamp buggy racing, Marigold"

by tom slick on Jun 28, 2008 6:04 PM EDT reply actions

Right on the Spot!

Goodell has ir right! Teams are losing bundles of money by investing wildly on unproven talent! More often than not this talent proved to be undeserving. A three year contract with a maximum of $15 million guaranteed will give management and coaching staffs a sufficient time to determine if any draft pick have proven themselves worthy of making the big bucks.

by remoley on Jun 28, 2008 7:26 PM EDT reply actions

A Thought

You know, to the layman this footage of Shaq Fu basically implies that Kobe went ass to mouth on him.

I wonder if he (or anyone else who uses such platitudes) ever stopped for one second to literally think about what he just told everyone. I can’t help but giggle when people say “it’’s the shit” when they talk about something good.

Alright, that was most likely my most irrelevant post ever. We now return your normal program already in progress.

In a way, each of us has an El Guapo to face.

by runningback on Jul 1, 2008 10:40 PM EDT reply actions