It's Time For An NFL Rookie Salary Cap, But That's Not The Real Problem

Recently NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell came out and said it is “ridiculous” for players like Jake Long to make boatloads of money without proving themselves in the NFL. He said “There’s something wrong with the system, the money should go to people who perform.”

This is a valid point because new savior Falcons QB Matt Ryan shouldn’t be making Tom Brady money before he takes an NFL snap. It’s a problem that must be addressed at the next collective bargaining agreement. The president of the NFLPA, Kevin Mawae, agrees with Goodell: "As a guy who has been in the league for 14 now going on 15 years and being around other veteran guys, for a young guy to get paid that kind of money and never steps foot on an NFL football field, it's a little disheartening to think of…and I know that's something that the owners are talking about and I'm sure that's going to play into this round of negotiations for this collective bargaining agreement."

But according to Goodell there are a few other major problems that made the owners opt out.

According to Goodell the owners of the richest league in America, the league that is practically a monopoly, are strapped for cash. He says that the big bad players union with their shark representative Gene Upshaw outwitted the poor owners by getting the players 60 percent of the revenue, and that this is the cause of the problem: “That other 40 percent…squeezes the margins and just makes it financially unworkable. There has to be some more recognition of the costs.” Upshaw has been a great representative of the players. So much so that the players are actively looking to follow Matt Stover’s advice and give him the boot before negotiations for the next bargaining agreement begin.

I’m sure Goodell’s rookie salary of $11 million last year made things “financially unworkable”.

The real problem with the current NFL system is the owners. The owners in the NFL refuse to compromise. The 60-40 revenue issue was brought up about a year ago and is going to be addressed during the bargaining agreement negotiations, but the owners are basically threatening to have a lockout season if the NFLPA doesn’t comply with its demands. It’s the owners that allowed these rookie contracts to balloon in the first place. The owners want more money in their pockets so they can continue building new stadiums and more luxury boxes but don’t want to give the players any of it. They see a huge cake and want to eat all of it. They have way too big of a sweet tooth.

What has accelerated these problems is the departure of Paul Tagliabue as the NFL commissioner. He truly was a representative of the league as a whole and was, for the most part, a fair commissioner. He was his own man.

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