Rookie Pay Scales: NBA Has It, NFL Needs It

After Sam Bradford signed his six-year $78 million contract, with $50 million guaranteed, the annual talks about a NFL rookie wage scale heated up. Then it was reported that Ndamukong Suh wanted to be the highest paid rookie this year, and the talks intensified.

There is no debating Sam Bradford should be the highest paid player in this year’s draft. He was the first pick and his position, quarterback, also dictates he should be paid the most.

The problem with the contract of Bradford and the demands of Suh is that neither has played a down in the NFL. Bradford has a bigger contract than Peyton Manning and Tom Brady.

Brady and Manning have a combined 14 Pro Bowls and four Super Bowl wins, while Bradford has not played a meaningful down of football since October.

When Jake Long signed his rookie contract in 2008, he instantly became the highest paid NFL offensive lineman, at the time.

No one can blame the players for taking the money, because the system is corrupt and allows these rookies to be grossly overpaid.

Some can argue you are worth what people are willing to pay for you, but that is unfair to the veterans who are more deserving of the money, and it is unfair to the teams that are forced to pay these players.

Teams are not always willing to pay high draft picks the ridiculous amount of money they end up agreeing upon, but a top-five pick handcuffs a team into doing so because the precedent has already been set.

Whether they wanted to or not, the St. Louis Rams were forced to pay Bradford, the same way Detroit is forced to pay Suh before either of them has proven anything in the NFL.

The veterans that have already played and proven themselves in the NFL are a lot more deserving of the high contracts than the unproven rookies.

The NFL needs to look at the NBA and develop some form of rookie pay scale based upon draft pick and position, use this scale for two to three years and in the third or fourth year let agents and players discuss the big money contracts.