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http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/13146568/nfl-needs-change-how-rookie-contracts-structured
NFL players are compensated spectacularly. When the starting salary in your line of work is $435,000, you're living very well. But careers are short and the window to earn a big payday can slam shut on any play. And players who far outperform their rookie contracts -- especially those who were mid- to low-round draft picks -- must often wait at least four years to receive anything close to fair market value.
When you see how much the Washington Redskins have gotten from running back Alfred Morris for so little pay, it's clearly time for change.
As a rookie in 2012, the sixth-rounder set a Redskins single-season rushing record with 1,613 yards. In NFL history, only eight players have rushed for more yards in their first two seasons than the 2,888 Morris produced. Through three seasons, the durable back has started every game, totaled 3,962 yards (averaging an impressive 4.5 yards per carry) and scored 28 touchdowns. And for all of that, the Redskins have spent less than $1.5 million. Each season, Morris has played for minimum salaries, earning $390,000, $480,000 and $570,000, respectively.
You know what Morris is?
"A really good deal," he told ESPN.com the other day, punctuating his comment with a hearty laugh. "For a lot of guys, when you come into the league, you're just concerned with giving everything you have to hopefully have an opportunity to make the team and find a way to contribute. But when you're around for a while and if you prove yourself ... it can be tough. If you're an asset to the team, you want to be paid like an asset. If guys come in and really earn it, they should be able to get paid. But a lot of guys are [underpaid] for a long time."
Obviously, determining who has outperformed a contract is subjective. Any reasonable league observer, though, would agree that Morris should be joined on the list by, among many others, Indianapolis Colts wide receiver T.Y. Hilton, Detroit Lions guard Larry Warford, Arizona Cardinals outside linebacker Alex Okafor and Baltimore Ravens tackle Ricky Wagner.
A third-rounder, Hilton quickly emerged as QB Andrew Luck's top big-play target. Also selected in the third round, Warford has been a rock-solid starter. In his second season, Okafor, picked in the fourth round, has delivered as an edge rusher. Wagner is a fifth-round gem.
Luck, who led the league in touchdown passes last season, and Seattle Seahawks QB Russell Wilson, whose situation is complicated by the fact that he's a third-rounder who already has consecutive Super Bowl appearances on his résumé, are the best examples of outliers. Of course, they're quarterbacks. Eventually, guys who excel at the game's most important position usually get paid according to their standing in the market. Carolina's Cam Newtonrecently received $60 million guaranteed. Even Ryan Tannehill, who hasn't appeared in a playoff game, has $25 million guaranteed in his new deal. Players at other positions aren't as fortunate.
Although teams can renegotiate rookie contracts after three years under the CBA, there's nothing that compels them to do so. There should be.
Let's say a player has three consecutive outstanding seasons to start his career. A trigger should kick in that requires the team with his rights to rework his contract based on players with comparable stats regardless of service time. Why? Because the average NFL playing career is 3.2 seasons, according to the NFL Players Association. The league's most commonly cited number (six years) is considerably higher.
Regardless, everyone knows that no one will draw Social Security benefits while playing the 3-technique. Players joke that the abbreviation NFL stands for "not for long."
"The thing that ultimately needs to be addressed is that if guys are successful, they need to be able to have a way to ... get their money before the career average for the average player," said one longtime agent who requested anonymity.
"It's definitely an issue. It's definitely something a lot of players care about. It's not something that's just going to go away. But let's be honest about it: We're here because there was very little rookie representation in the CBA. Nobody in there [the CBA talks] really cared about them."
It's common for owners and the NFLPA to disagree on most topics -- they could argue about the color of the sky. In the CBA talks, however, the sides were in lockstep on rookie compensation. Owners, having paid out massive contracts to first-round busts like JaMarcus Russell and Ryan Leaf, were fed up with ballooning rookie contracts. The NFLPA, led by veterans who were frustrated that rookies made more than many vets, wanted proven players to earn a bigger slice of the pie.
Gone are the individually negotiated escalators, incentives and offset language that formerly resulted in blockbuster contracts for first-rounders, who are signing contracts worth much less than their predecessors under the previous CBA. For mid- to low-round picks, the waiting game -- combined with relatively small contracts and the ever-present risk of career-ending injury -- often leads to uneasiness.
"I understand what [the union] did with the CBA," Morris said. "You would see all these guys who never played a snap in the NFL getting all this money. That was a slap in the face of all the guys who have proven themselves. The union really had to do something about it, and it did do something about it.
"But [the system] needs to be refined. ... With the way the game is, with the possibility you could [get injured], you may never get another contract."
Morris wasn't whining. He acknowledged that players have made gains overall in the CBA, and he has benefited from some, including annual increased salary minimums -- this season, rookies will make at least $435,000 -- and performance pool payouts that are tied to a player's playing time and his salary-cap number.
So far, Morris has received an additional $507,000 in compensation from the pool. And this season, Morris' salary will increase to $1.542 million because of the "proven performance escalator" provision in the CBA, which Morris earned by playing an average of at least 35 percent of Washington's plays on offense the past three seasons. His salary would have been $660,000 if he failed to qualify.
That established, Morris may have been better off signing with Washington as an undrafted college free agent.
Like all CFAs, Houston Texansrunning back Arian Foster became a restricted free agent after his third season. After winning a rushing title, Foster was in a better position to cash in during his fourth season than players who were drafted in 2009. Foster received an extension that included $20.75 million guaranteed. Something is wrong when going undrafted potentially benefits a player more in the long run, but nothing figures to change any time soon since the CBA is in place until after the 2020 season.
Perhaps in the next CBA, rookie contracts will provide greater flexibility for players who prove they deserve it. If not, players like Morris will continue to be on the wrong end of the NFL's best bargains
NFL players are compensated spectacularly. When the starting salary in your line of work is $435,000, you're living very well. But careers are short and the window to earn a big payday can slam shut on any play. And players who far outperform their rookie contracts -- especially those who were mid- to low-round draft picks -- must often wait at least four years to receive anything close to fair market value.
When you see how much the Washington Redskins have gotten from running back Alfred Morris for so little pay, it's clearly time for change.
As a rookie in 2012, the sixth-rounder set a Redskins single-season rushing record with 1,613 yards. In NFL history, only eight players have rushed for more yards in their first two seasons than the 2,888 Morris produced. Through three seasons, the durable back has started every game, totaled 3,962 yards (averaging an impressive 4.5 yards per carry) and scored 28 touchdowns. And for all of that, the Redskins have spent less than $1.5 million. Each season, Morris has played for minimum salaries, earning $390,000, $480,000 and $570,000, respectively.
You know what Morris is?
"A really good deal," he told ESPN.com the other day, punctuating his comment with a hearty laugh. "For a lot of guys, when you come into the league, you're just concerned with giving everything you have to hopefully have an opportunity to make the team and find a way to contribute. But when you're around for a while and if you prove yourself ... it can be tough. If you're an asset to the team, you want to be paid like an asset. If guys come in and really earn it, they should be able to get paid. But a lot of guys are [underpaid] for a long time."
Obviously, determining who has outperformed a contract is subjective. Any reasonable league observer, though, would agree that Morris should be joined on the list by, among many others, Indianapolis Colts wide receiver T.Y. Hilton, Detroit Lions guard Larry Warford, Arizona Cardinals outside linebacker Alex Okafor and Baltimore Ravens tackle Ricky Wagner.
A third-rounder, Hilton quickly emerged as QB Andrew Luck's top big-play target. Also selected in the third round, Warford has been a rock-solid starter. In his second season, Okafor, picked in the fourth round, has delivered as an edge rusher. Wagner is a fifth-round gem.
Luck, who led the league in touchdown passes last season, and Seattle Seahawks QB Russell Wilson, whose situation is complicated by the fact that he's a third-rounder who already has consecutive Super Bowl appearances on his résumé, are the best examples of outliers. Of course, they're quarterbacks. Eventually, guys who excel at the game's most important position usually get paid according to their standing in the market. Carolina's Cam Newtonrecently received $60 million guaranteed. Even Ryan Tannehill, who hasn't appeared in a playoff game, has $25 million guaranteed in his new deal. Players at other positions aren't as fortunate.
Although teams can renegotiate rookie contracts after three years under the CBA, there's nothing that compels them to do so. There should be.
Let's say a player has three consecutive outstanding seasons to start his career. A trigger should kick in that requires the team with his rights to rework his contract based on players with comparable stats regardless of service time. Why? Because the average NFL playing career is 3.2 seasons, according to the NFL Players Association. The league's most commonly cited number (six years) is considerably higher.
Regardless, everyone knows that no one will draw Social Security benefits while playing the 3-technique. Players joke that the abbreviation NFL stands for "not for long."
"The thing that ultimately needs to be addressed is that if guys are successful, they need to be able to have a way to ... get their money before the career average for the average player," said one longtime agent who requested anonymity.
"It's definitely an issue. It's definitely something a lot of players care about. It's not something that's just going to go away. But let's be honest about it: We're here because there was very little rookie representation in the CBA. Nobody in there [the CBA talks] really cared about them."
It's common for owners and the NFLPA to disagree on most topics -- they could argue about the color of the sky. In the CBA talks, however, the sides were in lockstep on rookie compensation. Owners, having paid out massive contracts to first-round busts like JaMarcus Russell and Ryan Leaf, were fed up with ballooning rookie contracts. The NFLPA, led by veterans who were frustrated that rookies made more than many vets, wanted proven players to earn a bigger slice of the pie.
Gone are the individually negotiated escalators, incentives and offset language that formerly resulted in blockbuster contracts for first-rounders, who are signing contracts worth much less than their predecessors under the previous CBA. For mid- to low-round picks, the waiting game -- combined with relatively small contracts and the ever-present risk of career-ending injury -- often leads to uneasiness.
"I understand what [the union] did with the CBA," Morris said. "You would see all these guys who never played a snap in the NFL getting all this money. That was a slap in the face of all the guys who have proven themselves. The union really had to do something about it, and it did do something about it.
"But [the system] needs to be refined. ... With the way the game is, with the possibility you could [get injured], you may never get another contract."
Morris wasn't whining. He acknowledged that players have made gains overall in the CBA, and he has benefited from some, including annual increased salary minimums -- this season, rookies will make at least $435,000 -- and performance pool payouts that are tied to a player's playing time and his salary-cap number.
So far, Morris has received an additional $507,000 in compensation from the pool. And this season, Morris' salary will increase to $1.542 million because of the "proven performance escalator" provision in the CBA, which Morris earned by playing an average of at least 35 percent of Washington's plays on offense the past three seasons. His salary would have been $660,000 if he failed to qualify.
That established, Morris may have been better off signing with Washington as an undrafted college free agent.
Like all CFAs, Houston Texansrunning back Arian Foster became a restricted free agent after his third season. After winning a rushing title, Foster was in a better position to cash in during his fourth season than players who were drafted in 2009. Foster received an extension that included $20.75 million guaranteed. Something is wrong when going undrafted potentially benefits a player more in the long run, but nothing figures to change any time soon since the CBA is in place until after the 2020 season.
Perhaps in the next CBA, rookie contracts will provide greater flexibility for players who prove they deserve it. If not, players like Morris will continue to be on the wrong end of the NFL's best bargains
