Richard Sherman: "Players Have To Be Willing To Strike"

[Loyal]

Well, when the average NFL career is 3.3 years, and the median likely lower than that, plus your median salary being $770k, it's not surprising that so many players go broke. You're talking about a good-not-great salary (especially when compared to other professional sports) and a crazy short career, and not to mention a career that can very easily lead to a lifetime of health problems and medical expenses.

NFL players ain't all Bentleys and caviar.

But DCH, it's what the players CHOSE to do, knowing that injuries happen in the NFL. They know the stats (or there is no excuse if they don't) about how long of a career they probably will have. Many of these guys chose the basket weaving degree while they studied collegiate football...It all comes down to the "it won't happen to me" syndrome, and when it breaks differently than they thought, does that make them any less responsible for their choices?

The only guarantee the NFL should give any NFL player that plays even one snap in the NFL, is access to quality, low cost health care (subsidized by the NFL). Other than that, buck up boys....Life isn't fair, so grow a pair.

 

[DCH]

I would look for some long term $$$ post NFL career retirement benefit adjustments myself. Where long term health issues is a serious concern. I realize that is not a priority of most young NFL players today. But it would sure be handy as the years pass for these long term players.

I think they should fight for health insurance for the rest of their lives. It's expensive, but (and you may correct me if I'm wrong) right now I think players have to have 3 years of service before they qualify, and they only get it for 5 years post-career.

Considering what playing in the NFL does to one's body, health care should be the #1 priority for the NFLPA.

 

[DCH]

But DCH, it's what the players CHOSE to do, knowing that injuries happen in the NFL. They know the stats (or there is no excuse if they don't) about how long of a career they probably will have. Many of these guys chose the basket weaving degree while they studied collegiate football...It all comes down to the "it won't happen to me" syndrome, and when it breaks differently than they thought, does that make them any less responsible for their choices?

The only guarantee the NFL should give any NFL player that plays even one snap in the NFL, is access to quality, low cost health care (subsidized by the NFL). Other than that, buck up boys....Life isn't fair, so grow a pair.

The NFL makes ridiculous money off of the backs of players, and NFL players get a smaller piece of a bigger pie when compared with NBA and MLB players. I totally agree with you on health care, but when you're in the only league that doesn't guarantee contracts and at the same time are getting less AAV on those contracts, something is terribly wrong with the financial balance.

 

[LACHAMP46]

it's what the players CHOSE to do, knowing that injuries happen in the NFL. They know the stats (or there is no excuse if they don't) about how long of a career they probably will have. Many of these guys chose the basket weaving degree while they studied collegiate football.

Is it really a "choice" if that's the only option you have? That really, in your environment, that really all you have access too? I mean, just say your schools are so fucked up, you can try to get a PHd in Biology if you want, but your odds of getting INTO college are hinged to your given talents...which may include running or jumping.

There's an old saying when life deals you lemons, make lemonade.

To think that everyone really has a choice in careers is not entirely true

 

[Loyal]

The NFL makes ridiculous money off of the backs of players, and NFL players get a smaller piece of a bigger pie when compared with NBA and MLB players. I totally agree with you on health care, but when you're in the only league that doesn't guarantee contracts and at the same time are getting less AAV on those contracts, something is terribly wrong with the financial balance.

It's hard for me to feel that much sympathy when millionaires complain that billionaires don't give them enough cash. So if the NBA players "have played" their ownership groups for over half the revenue of the their respective leagues, why should the NFL owners do the same?

Excuse me, I have to go the grocery store where I have to look for deals and use coupons to make ends meet. Not whining, because there is only equality of opportunity in a free society and not equality of outcomes. If I want better, I have to do better....period. Same for those earning big money "off the backs" of NFL owners....They can always use their degrees to get a different job, right? No one is chaining them to a job that they think they are getting cheated while doing.

 

[KNUCKLEHEAD]

The median NFL salary is $770,000. The average NFL career is 3.3 years. So you have the median salary for the average amount of years, you earn $2.2 million over the course of your career, and then spend the rest of your life working whatever job you can pull with NFL/NCAA levels of relenting injuries.

Richard Sherman isn't the reason the NFL players need a better deal, but rather guys like Troy Hill, or Jake Eldrencamp, or any number of guys who make jack crap during their careers while enabling the NFL and ownership to print billions.

The median wage in the United States is approx. $52,000. per year. At that rate you would have to work 42 years to earn $2.2 million. I'd make that trade. 3.3 years v 42 years. Yep. Sure would.

 

[DCH]

It's hard for me to feel that much sympathy when millionaires complain that billionaires don't give them enough cash. So if the NBA players "have played" their ownership groups for over half the revenue of the their respective leagues, why should the NFL owners do the same?

Excuse me, I have to go the grocery store where I have to look for deals and use coupons to make ends meet. Not whining, because there is only equality of opportunity in a free society and not equality of outcomes. If I want better, I have to do better....period. Same for those earning big money "off the backs" of NFL owners....They can always use their degrees to get a different job, right? No one is chaining them to a job that they think they are getting cheated while doing.

This is the same argument of workers vs. employers dating back to the beginning of capitalism. Without the workers, the factory/team is worthless; workers create a certain amount of value and should be compensated appropriately for value created. If the workers aren't worth what they're asking, replace them and see how the product and value created maintains or doesn't.

 

[DCH]

The median wage in the United States is approx. $52,000. per year. At that rate you would have to work 42 years to earn $2.2 million. I'd make that trade. 3.3 years v 42 years. Yep. Sure would.

And that means that NFL players should just... not earn what they feel they're worth? Why is it that the billionaires are getting the benefit of the doubt in the "millionaires vs. billionaires" dividing of the pie? Is there a certain threshold of earnings where you're no longer allowed to fight for your fair share of dollars generated by your efforts, and if so, where's the next threshold where you get to start doing it again?

 

[Loyal]

Is it really a "choice" if that's the only option you have? That really, in your environment, that really all you have access too? I mean, just say your schools are so freaked up, you can try to get a PHd in Biology if you want, but your odds of getting INTO college are hinged to your given talents...which may include running or jumping.

There's an old saying when life deals you lemons, make lemonade.

To think that everyone really has a choice in careers is not entirely true

Yes, there is always a choice.
But the question is, what are you willing to do to be successful? If I was their age and didn't have the option of college, the NFL, or a nice cushy job that paid well. I'd go to truck driving school and be a travelling gypsy until I earned seniority to have a stable life...I did that, but many that I knew from High School that didn't go to college and had low prospects in life told me, "I could never do that." Why?

Or go to Alaska and learn to fish on a commercial fishing boat, where a decent living can be earned and only work 4 (hard assed) months in a year to make a good yearly income.

Or how about the fracking fields in the Dakotas?Hell, even McDonald's workers make $16 an hour up there, but it isn't an easy life and the surroundings are spartan. "What are you willing to do?", is always the question for me in my life. Do what others aren't willing to do, is my motto.

 

[DCH]

Also, note that that $770k/year is taxed at the highest bracket, so take-home is $400k. NFL players, in general, are not wealthy. Sherman is, but your average player isn't.

 

[KNUCKLEHEAD]

Nobody's saying they don't have a right to fight for more money. More power to them. But let's not pretend they're not getting a good deal for 3 years work.

 

[Prime Time]

The old argument "rich people=bad people" has crept into the NFL. The owners are bad because they have the most money, while the players are bad because they have more money than the rest of us. It's a specious argument. The NFL is a business and money is the bottom line. Screw with the potential inflow of money and you're gone. Colin Kaepernick found this out.

Maybe I'm one of the few who believes that despite the NFL presently being on top of the heap, things can go downhill real quick.

1) Ad revenues are dipping
2) too many teams are changing cities and losing some of their fan base
3) the desire of Goodell and the owners to export the game to other countries
4) the concussion lawsuits which is causing the game to be further softened
5) the over-saturation of the game
6) arrests and lawsuits against NFL players

At some point this will cause a certain percentage of NFL fans to quit watching and spending their money on the game. A player's strike could be the tipping point.

Perhaps it would be wise for the owners to renegotiate the CBA now before the players strike. Instead of increasing salaries however, maybe that money should go into the best possible health plan for each player once they retire.

Will this happen? Probably not.

 

[Selassie I]

The owners and players would be wise to stop testing for weed in the new CBA. It costs them both boo-koo dilores when a player is suspended for a substance that is now legal in many states.

Not to mention the fact that it could help many players deal with pain issues that they are currently using addictive opiods to treat.


As far as the players getting more $$$. Hopefully they are able to make that happen by allowing the proper practice schedules to be but back in use instead of the current bullshit that is hurting the proper development of players... and thus hurting the product all the way around.

Give and take... that's what a CBA is all about.

 

[DCH]

Nobody's saying they don't have a right to fight for more money. More power to them. But let's not pretend they're not getting a good deal for 3 years work.

I'd love to net $1.2 million for three years' work, but let's also not pretend that your average NFL player is rolling in the cash and has no right to complain about salaries, benefits and the distribution of the NFL's massive revenues.

 

[DCH]

The owners and players would be wise to stop testing for weed in the new CBA. It costs them both boo-koo dilores when a player is suspended for a substance that is now legal in many states.

Not to mention the fact that it could help many players deal with pain issues that they are currently using addictive opiods to treat.


As far as the players getting more $$$. Hopefully they are able to make that happen by allowing the proper practice schedules to be but back in use instead of the current bullcrap that is hurting the proper development of players... and thus hurting the product all the way around.

Give and take... that's what a CBA is all about.

Excellent points, especially on weed. So many studies lately pointing out how legalization of medical marijuana cuts the knees out of our nation's opioid crisis, and a job where your day-to-day duties involve getting your joints ground into powder is one of the most anti-weed around. Ridiculous.

 

[Loyal]

And that means that NFL players should just... not earn what they feel they're worth? Why is it that the billionaires are getting the benefit of the doubt in the "millionaires vs. billionaires" dividing of the pie? Is there a certain threshold of earnings where you're no longer allowed to fight for your fair share of dollars generated by your efforts, and if so, where's the next threshold where you get to start doing it again?

It means that workers earn what the market bears... This is America and you are not chained to a job that you think doesn't pay you enough. Workers don't own a company when they are hired and so they work under the conditions (governed by labor law) that the owner mandates for HIS business. There are admittedly less talented players willing to work for less, for every player that strikes. Of course, this will degrade the product somewhat, so there is that danger for the owners...But in the end, these billionaires paid or inherited these companies (teams). The players won't give a cr@p if an owner were to go broke paying their salaries, unless that meant their checks weren't good on payday. They don't care about any of the troubles or responsibilities an owner faces, and won't care at all what happens to that business when they leave its employ, because it's not their business.

 

[LACHAMP46]

But let's not pretend they're not getting a good deal for 3 years work.

I'd love to net $1.2 million for three years' work

And say, right at 2 years, 7 months you wreck you knee, back, neck....or something you may wanna use for the next 45 years, is that a cool trade off for basically entertaining the masses?

The players won't give a cr@p if an owner were to go broke paying their salaries

But they, the owners, won't. You are defending a top 1-5% that basically will never have to worry about going broke. Neither will their kids...or their kids kids...and they (the owners) continue to squeeze their product...control what goes into it...what keeps it going...hell, they paid the commissioner $44 million...in one year...for fattening their pockets.

 

[DCH]

It means that workers earn what the market bears... This is America and you are not chained to a job that you think doesn't pay you enough. Workers don't own a company when they are hired and so they work under the conditions (governed by labor law) that the owner mandates for HIS business. There are admittedly less talented players willing to work for less, for every player that strikes. Of course, this will degrade the product somewhat, so there is that danger for the owners...But in the end, these billionaires paid or inherited these companies (teams). The players won't give a cr@p if an owner were to go broke paying their salaries, unless that meant their checks weren't good on payday. They don't care about any of the troubles or responsibilities an owner faces, and won't care at all what happens to that business when they leave its employ, because it's not their business.

A little extreme, no? Owners are in no danger whatsoever of going broke paying player salaries - as it currently stands, owning an NFL franchise is a license to print gobs of money, and the product is the players on the field.

Works will earn what the market bears, but the NFL has a legal monopoly on their primary marketable skill along with a cap on how much each team is permitted to pay its players. This is not a good example of a free market, because there is no option to go elsewhere and use the one skill these players have spent a lifetime developing.

And no, the players don't care about an owner's responsibilities or troubles - that's the owner's job to deal with. They care about their own responsibilities and troubles, and thus will do what is necessary to deal with that. Likewise, the owners don't care about the players' responsibilities and troubles, which is why having organized labor on the side of the players is necessary.

 

[Loyal]

And say, right at 2 years, 7 months you wreck you knee, back, neck....or something you may wanna use for the next 45 years, is that a cool trade off for basically entertaining the masses?

Not for me. How about you ask the same affected players if a Super Bowl ring would be worth that? It's the highest honor/achievement in American Pro Sports, which many in the sport would pay that price if that was the exchange for a Ring.

 

[DCH]

Not for me. How about you ask the same affected players if a Super Bowl ring would be worth that? It's the highest honor/achievement in American Pro Sports, which many in the sport would pay that price if that was the exchange for a Ring.

Can one not play for the honor and achievement of the game while also deserving and earning a respectable chunk of the money his efforts have earned a team and a league?