NFL Draft: Something Needs To Be Done About Rookie Salaries

I could write hundreds of articles about this situation, but what were the Detroit Lions thinking? They really did sign Matthew Stafford to a contract that guarantees him $41.7 million and carries a reported total salary of up to $78 million.

The guaranteed amount of $41.7 million is the largest amount in NFL history, and his salary of $78 million is more than Tom Brady’s contract renewal in 2005. Yes, ladies and gents, a guy who has yet to play a single down in the NFL is now making more than a multiple Super Bowl winner.

This situation really got me thinking: Does the NFL need a rookie salary cap like the NBA currently implements? After this weekend I would say 100 percent yes.

I hate the process that the draft has become. No longer is there a surprise about who the first team in the draft will pick. Now all the discussion is about how high of a contract the player is getting and if they will sign if they are drafted.

The day before the draft there was news that the Lions and Stafford couldn’t agree on a contract. I thought that was ridiculous. Why would and why should a college player argue what his value is? Every rookie out of college has the exact same value; they have played zero downs in the NFL.

Sure, some players excelled in their college career but how many of them have been able to carry over an equal amount of success. An even better question would be how many quarterbacks that have been drafted number one has been a bust?

Let’s look back at the QBs drafted in the last 10 years, in order: Tim Couch, Michael Vick, David Carr, Carson Palmer, Eli Manning, Alex Smith, JaMarcus Russell, and now Matthew Stafford all were No. 1 draft picks.

From that list, you could say that at best there is a 50 percent success ratio. That’s saying Vick, Manning, Palmer, aren’t busts. Now look into the real side of it and you say that at best you have one player that has lived up to the expectations of a No. 1 draft pick, and that’s Eli Manning.

Vick is in jail and who knows if he will ever play football again, Palmer has degraded since his injury, David Carr is a joke after his stint in Carolina, and JaMarcus Russell hasn’t even had .500 season.

To give Stafford this high of a contract, a record setting contract, and he has never played a down in the NFL is ridiculous. Far more deserving players are out there, guys who have earned the respect and the right to have a contract like that.

Jeff Garcia spent the majority of the offseason as a free agent. The Detroit Lions could have got him for half of what they signed Stafford for.

So who is to blame for such a ridiculous salary? The answer is simple the entire NFL is to blame. Teams compete to sign their players to the highest contract. As a result rookies feel like they should get a higher contract than the last No. 1 draft.

Jake Long got $30 million in guaranteed money, this year Stafford signs for $41.7 million guaranteed, so what happens next year when Tim Tebow and Sam Bradford are in the draft?

Are we going to get another year where a team spends a large amount on a chance? I hope not because at the rate we are going players need to retire after the first couple of years. It seems in today’s NFL that experience doesn’t count for anything and it’s sad that it has come to that.

To get this situation under control the NFL must implement a rookie salary cap before teams sign themselves into salary cap trouble leaving the veterans we love to watch out to dry.

No team who goes 0-16 needs a rookie QB to fix their problem they need a veteran QB who has the experience to pull a team together and get wins.