Where Has Team Loyalty Gone ?

[Malibu]

No loyalty on either side - sad. Players need to Max the money when they can for as long as they can. The teams need to view the best fit and cost for the players. That is what makes football so great. The forced change keeps us all guessing. Did the team do enough to acquire the right player? Did the player make the best long term future for himself? Hard to know until a couple years after the deal.

 

[Alaskan Ram]

There's no loyalty in big business anywhere. It's a fucking buzzword on the motivational posters that hang up in the lobbies and break rooms, sure.

But in the end, big business is at the mercy of the board of directors. The bottom line is all the share holders care about.

 

[BriansRams]

I'm sure some of you are chuckling at thread title. You don't expect people to have loyalty to anything but the buck.
What about the coaches that have worked overtime with you ?
What about the head coach who has eased up helping to rehab an injury ?
What about teammates that have help you adjust to a new team ? Been kind to your family as they resettled ?
What about strength coaches working overtime to help you rehab ?
And finally what about the loyal fans ? (Seems like that is the only place the word loyalty works anymore)
I never have been a big fan of owners so I'm not thinking of them. What about the fans ? Everyone expects loyalty from us and ultimately give very little. Is it such a big deal if the home team offers 10 million to move across country for an extra 2 million ? Maybe at my age I have lost touch, but are there no hometown discounts anymore for a team that has treated a player well and helped developed his skill set ?
Seems like greed dominates our culture today.
Thanks for letting me vent.

@Rod De Kruyf I'm with ya on this. I understand that making some more money has appeal, but I also understand the point you're trying to make. That is ... how much is enough! Geez! Why not stay somewhere and make $11 million per year for 3 years instead of moving, learning a new system, playing with a lessor QB and making $15 million per year?

Show some loyalty. Give back a little bit in order to better the team's success. Want a good chance at a ring or not? Are you playing to be the best and get a ring? Or are you only playing to earn ridiculously over paid amounts of money?

People say stuff like "they gotta look out for their family." What?!?!? Their family cannot live their entire lives on 10's of millions of guaranteed dollars? Really?

Hey, fellow Ram fans on this board. How many of you would be a-ok with earning $10,000,000 in one year, even just for 1 year in your life? How about "settling" for an $18,000,000 franchise tag for one year?
Would you squander it ... or make it last a lifetime?

People also say, "teams are not loyal to players...." Not true. Teams sit down with a player and offer them a dollar amount and explain the contract (or their agent does). The player can refuse or try to bargain, or accept. What NFL team has never paid a player what the signed contract says he was guaranteed?

Conversely, what player do you know that has every paid an NFL team money in order to play football? None. My point is the team's loyalty in a way IS the huge $$$$$$$$ they pay these guys. What would most NFL players be doing for work if an NFL team wasn't paying them big bucks to be famous and play a game on the field? I don't want to answer that because it might be politically incorrect.

In conclusion, it's just crazy for me to think about uprooting and being a bit disloyal for the difference between $48 million vs $40 million OVER just 3 years. I just don't get it. There is no other way to explain it other than pure greed. Wanting to have more more and more .... even way too much. Even though this is a business, the teams are more loyal in the grand scheme of things than the players are. It's greed. And greed exists everywhere, not just the NFL.

 

[wolfdogg]

Not sure. What year did free agency start?

 

[fearsomefour]

The loyalty you are asking for is a one way street.
What happens if a player suffers a serious injury? Cut.
New coaching staff with a new approach? Cut.
It's absurd to expect one way loyalty.

 

[BadCompany]

What NFL team has never paid a player what the signed contract says he was guaranteed?

I guess you could argue Alec Olgetree. Sure, he's still going to get paid, but when he signed that contract he was probably hoping to spend the majority of it in LA, with the team that drafted him, and to which he was probably hoping to win a Super Bowl with. Next to the beaches and the sun, and the laid back life style. Instead, he's shipped all the way across the country to a team that is probably on the downside, with little chance of winning it all this year, with winter, traffic, and a totally different culture.

And of course this says nothing about all those other non-money things, like his house, his family (especially for those that have wives and kids), his friends and teammates, and so on. The Rams thought only of themselves in this transaction - as they should - and when they can free agents also think only of themselves - as they should.

 

[BriansRams]

The loyalty you are asking for is a one way street.
What happens if a player suffers a serious injury? Cut.
New coaching staff with a new approach? Cut.
It's absurd to expect one way loyalty.

Hi Fearsomefour,

Well, if serious injury, then the player gets the guaranteed money that he agreed upon, and signed his name for.
Getting a contract that protects you from serious injury is important, I agree. But it's not like they take back all the millions you have been paid because you got injured. It's not like they don't have a hefty sum of guaranteed money they will collect.

So yeah, what happens if Kirk Cousins blows both knees out in the first game this year?
I'll tell you what happens. He retires but collects about $75,000,000 (not thousands. millions) of his guaranteed money. Not bad huh?

 

[BriansRams]

I guess you could argue Alec Olgetree. Sure, he's still going to get paid, but when he signed that contract he was probably hoping to spend the majority of it in LA, with the team that drafted him, and to which he was probably hoping to win a Super Bowl with. Next to the beaches and the sun, and the laid back life style. Instead, he's shipped all the way across the country to a team that is probably on the downside, with little chance of winning it all this year, with winter, traffic, and a totally different culture.

And of course this says nothing about all those other non-money things, like his house, his family (especially for those that have wives and kids), his friends and teammates, and so on. The Rams thought only of themselves in this transaction - as they should - and when they can free agents also think only of themselves - as they should.

Poor Alec.
What has he made so far during his Rams tenure? And he has to face winter and traffic and a different American culture? Ugh! How will they survive, I mean with airplanes and all that can take you anywhere in 2 hours.

 

[fearsomefour]

Hi Fearsomefour,

Well, if serious injury, then the player gets the guaranteed money that he agreed upon, and signed his name for.
Getting a contract that protects you from serious injury is important, I agree. But it's not like they take back all the millions you have been paid because you got injured. It's not like they don't have a hefty sum of guaranteed money they will collect.

So yeah, what happens if Kirk Cousins blows both knees out in the first game this year?
I'll tell you what happens. He retires but collects about $75,000,000 (not thousands. millions) of his guaranteed money. Not bad huh?

His isngoing to be the first guaranteed in the history of the league.
In most cases all that is guarenteed is the bonus. Particularly for players that aren't stars.

 

[bluecoconuts]

Team money showed up with their fancy car and sexy girlfriend.

 

[BadCompany]

Poor Alec.
What has he made so far during his Rams tenure? And he has to face winter and traffic and a different American culture? Ugh! How will they survive, I mean with airplanes and all that can take you anywhere in 2 hours.

I'm not saying you should feel sorry for him... But you did ask which NFL teams didn't honor their contracts to a player, and the answer is arguably every team that trades a player (to say nothing of the ones who simply cut players). Unless I'm mistaken, I don't think the Rams paid a single dollar of the contract they just gave him.

You're disappointed that Sammy Watkins choice a different path - can you not see how Olgetree would not be just as disappointed that the Rams took a different path? The Rams are on the cusp, and he gets sent to a potential bottom feeder just months after hearing Snead say "We look forward to Alec helping our team emerge as a consistent winner for years to come."

Loyalty is usually only demanded from one side; the players. Rarely do we hear fans says "yeah, he's not really good anymore, but still, we should be loyal to him."

 

[BriansRams]

I'm not saying you should feel sorry for him... But you did ask which NFL teams didn't honor their contracts to a player...."

But my friend, it's fully known by the player because the contract is written up as "if we desire your services for said number of years, then we'll pay you X amount of dollars, but we can cut you or trade you if we want."

It's no surprise to an NFL player that most contracts are written up as "if you are here playing for us, then we'll pay you x amount of dollars."

 

[BadCompany]

And it's also fully known that once said contract is up, the player is free to sign with the highest bidder.

 

[BriansRams]

You're disappointed that Sammy Watkins choice a different path - can you not see how Olgetree would not be just as disappointed that the Rams took a different path? The Rams are on the cusp, and he gets sent to a potential bottom feeder just months after hearing Snead say "We look forward to Alec helping our team emerge as a consistent winner for years to come."

Can I ask.
Do you think the Rams would have kept Alec if he was willing to re-do his contract to a number that was reasonable for the Rams to stay competitive, and become even more competitive? I bet they'd be happy to pay him MILLIONS to stay, just not the amount of MILLIONS he wants.
Did Alec offer to take a pay cut to stay?

 

[lockdnram21]

how can u be loyal to somebody that will cut u at the drop of a dime

 

[BadCompany]

Take a paycut before his contract even starts? Is that even possible??

 

[Rabid Ram]

So if someone sat down in front of you right now and said I'll give you 9 million to stay where your at and not change a thing and then someone else walked up and said wait I'll give you 16 million to do the same job but you have to move you would tell me you wouldn't take the 16 million? You can tell me you wouldn't but I wouldn't believe you

 

[Mackeyser]

We know it's a violent sport but if you can't make 30 million dollars last then you have other problems.

True, but the average career in the NFL is about 3 years. The average lifetime take for an NFL player is less than $3M.

Take into account agents, lawyers and taxes and the AVERAGE NFL player has the potential of a lifetime of issues... all for the gaudy sum of... $1.5M

$1.5M if fully put into an annuity with aggressive returns and conservative payouts would get you MAYBE $90k per year before taxes.

That's a tidy sum, but it's not "baller" money. And that presumes not spending ANY money during the 3 years which isn't possible.

The misconception that all or even most NFL players are rolling in dough is just misplaced.

Some are. But once again, with over 1600 players in the NFL and more on practice squads it's easy to let the top 1% who are signing huge contracts skew the reality of most players in the NFL.