Chris Cooley speaks out against rookie pay system

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Originally Posted by SouperMeister

The NFL should use Major League Baseball as a model for controlling rookie pay. Top baseball draft selections usually make less than $2M in signing bonus, and their salaries are much smaller than established veterans until they reach free agency. Those that have proven themselves get big money and those that haven't don't. Is there another industry, sports or otherwise, where the top ranked newcomers make more than the best of the best in their chosen field? The NFL is the only institution that I can think of that rewards potential before proven talent.

This is the crux of the problem in the NFL: top selections are EXPECTED by the team and fans to sign, and the agents know it.

This is why top rookie SBs are so ridiculous now. In free agency, the market is even, and the best offers reflect, roughly the players' reputation around the league. With the first 2-3 picks in the draft, its a two party negotiation process, in which one party clearly holds all the leverage. A deal is going to get done: both parties know this. Thus the agent holds out until the other party caves.

What football needs to do is (in the next CBA) implement a compensatory picks system for players that do not sign. This gives the owners SOME leverage when working with the player. Then the team with the first overall pick can say "we're only giving you 15 million to sign" and if the agent thinks his client is worth 30 million to sign, he's got two choices then:

1) accept less money than his client is worth.

2) risk the whole deal (and essentially the entire player's career) on the fact that the team values him as much as the agent does.

Both parties still have leverage here. Obviously, the NFL is a young man's game, and no team wants to come away empty handed in the first round in any year, but they at the very least could draft a comparable player the next year. This 'meet me in the middle' approach would still allow the players to make market value deals, without the signing bonuses getting totally out of control.