Goodell says rookie pay is nuts

Recently, NFL Commishoner Roger Goodell spoke out about the way rookies in the NFL are paid, saying it’s “ridiculus” to pay unproven rookies large sums of money.

“There’s something wrong about the system,” Goodell said. “The money should go to people who perform.”

“[Jake Long] doesn’t have to play a down in the NFL and he already has his money. Now, with the economics where they are, the consequences if you don’t evaluate that player, you can lose a significant amount of money.

And that money is not going to players that are performing. It’s going to a player that never makes it in the NFL. And I think that’s ridiculous.”

What Goodell said, I completely agree with. It is absurd that those players get massive amounts of money without even playing, like Jake Long with his 57.75M contract, 30M of it guaranteed. Goodell favors a slotted system similar to the NBA, but allowing for a provision to renegotiate the deal once the player proves himself. I favor this too. I believe that that would be fair to all parties.

In the sport of football, where a career can end with one mis-step or one violent hit, it is important for the players to get as much money as they can while they are healthy, and non-guaranteed contracts make that even more essential. With a slotted system, the owners are not being killed by a draft mistake for many years, the proven veterans get the money they deserve, and allowing for the deal to be re-negotiated once the player has proven himself allows for these rookies to get what they deserve when they deserve it. I am in favor of this, and I hope the NFL puts this system in soon.