Round 1-3 Sign 3YR Contracts but Teams have 5YR exclusive rights to the player.

Rounds 4-7 Sign 3YR Contracts but Teams have 4YR exclusive rights to a player.

Undrafted Free Agents Stays the Same
Restricted Free Agency for First 4YRS in the league

Unrestricted Free Agents After 4YRs you are a UFA unless you were drafted in rounds 1-3 then it is 5YRS. Players drafted before this are not under these rules but the same old rules.

Keep Franchise Tag but add not player maybe Franchised more than two years in a row and half the sum of the Franchise Salary is payable upon the player signing the Tag to ensure some sort signing bonus.
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This is pretty close to what I have been saying for awhile elsewhere except I believe that the Franchise Tag does get abused too much. My change to your thoughts would be that a team cannot franchise tag a player more than one time ever…one year total. Some teams have been using the thing to tag the guy over and over and that is completely against what the tag was supposed to be about. It is SUPPOSED to be a temporary measure while they work out a new deal or a 1 year deal to help the team transition away from the guy. If the player goes to another team, they would be allowed to FT the guy once also.

And I hate unions and usually side w/ the owners (and no I am not rich, I have never been above middle class) but this time each side had legitimate beefs IMO.

Round 1-3 Sign 3YR Contracts but Teams have 5YR exclusive rights to the player.

Rounds 4-7 Sign 3YR Contracts but Teams have 4YR exclusive rights to a player.

Undrafted Free Agents Stays the Same
Restricted Free Agency for First 4YRS in the league

Unrestricted Free Agents After 4YRs you are a UFA unless you were drafted in rounds 1-3 then it is 5YRS. Players drafted before this are not under these rules but the same old rules.

Keep Franchise Tag but add not player maybe Franchised more than two years in a row and half the sum of the Franchise Salary is payable upon the player signing the Tag to ensure some sort signing bonus.

The new standard should REQUIRE that the 4th and 5th year of these rookie contracts for first round picks have ONE main characteristic:

1) The contract is automatically voidable after the third and fourth.

If the player, after his 3rd year, wishes to be on the restricted free agent scale and have the freedom to sign offer sheets that the TEAM may MATCH, then give the player that right.

If the team wishes to release a first round pick after three years who has not played up to standard, allow them to do so with no cap consequences.

If the middle ground arises, where the player thinks his salary is as good as he can get for that year and the team deems him worth keeping, he can play under whatever salary the contract says.

It’s a perfect middle ground.

For 2nd round picks, use the above formula for four year contracts, permitting players to enter restricted free agency if desired.

Then, don’t change the system for 3rd round and lower. If they want four years w/the option to void, let them sign it. If they want three years, let them do that.

But ONLY lock players into a salary for three years. It’s funny, but a third round or lower pick that becomes an immediate star is actually in better position to get paid BIG MONEY than a mid to late first round pick who isn’t getting that super signing bonus.

I would be surprised if that were the outcome. My guess is they will use them to lower payroll overall. That would mean a decrease in total money going to players.

for all the people that think rookies deserve less than veterans! two words albert haynesworth and sam bradford! that is the GM and OWNERS fault! is it right, no but it isn’t that simple! get rid of the 4 year free agency rule, see how many franchise you have then!!

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I can’t disagree with you that overpaying for veteran free agents is the fault of the management but what the f&^k does it have to do with a rookie wage scale? Poor judgment by management can be abated through a well-defined pay scale.

This clearly needs to be put in place no matter what else happens but five years of service does not a rookie make!

I agree with tmb33 – the players will cave eventually because they have no other source of income which is not the case with majority the owners. They had business success – and money – before they bought these franchises…

The owners should take a stand and tell them this is the way it is going to be….like our bosses would….and if the players don’t like it they are free to quit.
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If you have a job where a boss could treat you like that, that’s a you problem.

If the company I’m attached to now tried to shove a contract down my throat, I would tell him to f*** off, because their business would collapse without me.

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yes how will they ever find another guy to post onto football message boards while sitting at his workstation?

If you have a job where a boss could treat you like that, that’s a you problem.

If the company I’m attached to now tried to shove a contract down my throat, I would tell him to f*** off, because their business would collapse without me.

Just like the NFL would if they tried to use scabs for an extended period of time.

Let’s imagine all 32 NFL teams were research companies competing for fame, fortune and ultimately the Nobel Prize. For the sake of the example, we’ll assume that the worst performing company gets first pick of the graduating research scientists from America’s various universities.

The top student out of this pool of graduates has demonstrated great lab work, documentation of case studies and seems to have a positive attitude. However, he has zero real world experience working for a commercial research lab (as does each of his respective peers). Now if the worst performing company of this pool hired this unproven graduate for $50+ million dollars salary over the next 6 years ($36 million being guaranteed), and ultimately paid him more than their extablished veteran researchers that drive their projects, I think you would agree that one would have to be a complete idiot to invest heavily in their company.

So how do you figure the current system for paying draftees is a good idea? Paying established veterans that are proven contributors to the team more money is a great idea. However, paying JaMarcus Russell millions of guaranteed money to slack off and get hooked on sizzurp, is not.

I know this is all part of negotiations but some of this stuff shouldn’t be that hard and when the 2 sides can bassically agree on something it wouldn’t hurt to build on that instead of dwelling on their disagreements all the time.

realitypolice says:
Feb 10, 2011 9:36 PM
I am glad you have such a high opinion of yourself. Unless you own the company, I am sure they existed before you and will after you are gone. My point which you agreed with is that if you don’t like your deal go work somewhere else. The players have options. They should use them. The owners owe them nothing.

The owners should take a stand and tell them this is the way it is going to be….like our bosses would….and if the players don’t like it they are free to quit.
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If you have a job where a boss could treat you like that, that’s a you problem.

If the company I’m attached to now tried to shove a contract down my throat, I would tell him to f*** off, because their business would collapse without me.

Just like the NFL would if they tried to use scabs for an extended period of time.

I’m a businessman and don’t typically defend unions.

But I don’t see NFL players as union laborers in the classic sense.

If the UAW walked off the job, the industry could replace them with scabs and barely miss a beat.

NFL players are specialists. Anybody replacing them would provide an extremely inferior product.

That gives them more leverage, which they are completely entitled to use.

The same people that support the players union are the same ones that think the UAW et al or bad. Rich envy.

The owners should take a stand and tell them this is the way it is going to be….like our bosses would….and if the players don’t like it they are free to quit.

What they don’t want is slotted contracts that last FIVE YEARS. Is a five year veteran a rookie?

Why should a player in his 5th NFL season, when most players are at least half way through their careers, still have his salary being determined by where he was drafted 5 years ago?