Free agency opened in the NBA on Wednesday, which meant that the day was filled with reports of players signing big new contracts.
That sounds a lot like the first day of free agency in the NFL, although there’s one significant difference in the kind of contracts that were being handed out. NBA players generally sign deals that are fully guaranteed while NFL players sign contracts whose total possible value is often significantly higher than the amount they’re guaranteed to make.
On Wednesday, Redskins safety Duke Ihenacho lamented that disparity on Twitter while calling for higher minimum salaries for NFL players
“All this guaranteed money NBA throwing. Meanwhile the NFL, which generates the most money wont even make the league minimum $1M,” Ihenacho wrote. “Yes $1M minimum. That means every single player’s salary in the NFL should start there. Highest risk of injury..brain trauma, richest league.”
The Denver Post collected several other NFL reactions to the NBA spending spree with several players experiencing hoop dreams (or hoop paycheck dreams, at least) as Wednesday unfolded.
Ihenacho isn’t the first player to suggest that NFL contracts should pay more or that they lack the same security enjoyed by athletes in other sports. There will be future CBA negotiations that offer a chance for players to grab a larger slice of the revenue, although doing so would likely take players being willing to miss the paychecks they didn’t want to miss in 2011.