Could (should) NFL contracts be fully guaranteed and how?

[dollars 2 donuts]

Maybe I am honestly getting soft in my old age, or maybe I've seen too many documentaries and movies that show what happens to these young men's bodies and minds as they get older and I'm starting to feel guilty about what I am cheering on.

 

And it is not like the following articles put me over the top, but they did get me thinking enough to want to write something here to get some feedback/wisdom from you guys who will likely have a greater in depth understanding than me on the subject.  

 

https://deadspin.com/why-only-the-nfl-doesnt-guarantee-contracts-1797020799

 

https://deadspin.com/the-football-world-cant-even-see-the-nfls-rotten-core-1827905463

 

...or maybe I just want DC Tom to call me an idiot. ?

 

Look, I don't know the ins and outs of the cap and I don't know the ins and outs of accounting.  I do know that the NFL has much larger rosters, much shorter seasons and an employee base that is much more at risk to getting injured, which would ironically enough go against having a cap.

 

I also hate the coasting that seems to go on in other sports when they get these deals. (Former Sabre Really Laimo I'm looking at you for one).

 

...can't it be looked at, though?

 

All that said, what if the league lowered the players cut of the revenue to start (just hear me out), but made that lowered amount fully guaranteed.  However, limit the full guarantee to all the contracts for the years a player is 30 or under.  I'm not saying for contracts made before a player is 30 or under, but rather the years the players are under 30.  Contracts also wouldn't be weighted, they would be on the average.  Therefore if a player signs a 5 year deal at 29 years old for 40 million dollars at the very least 16 million is guaranteed, although it could be more depending upon the quality of the player. 

 

The added savings of reducing the cap, along with league revenues, could be put into a league pool, wherein if careers were ended early on (under 30) the money would be paid out and the teams could get cap relief. 

 

I know holes are going to be easily shot into the suggestions above, but I also know that even after just thinking about this briefly, SOME ideas can at least come up.

 

I look forward to all your thoughtful comments, and even some of the other ones. ?

 

Go Bills.

 

 

Edited July 28, 2018 by dollars 2 donuts

[cd1]

NO - There are plenty NFL players the merit only "show me" contracts.

[aristocrat]

Cousins got a full guarantee. So did the raiders dB a while back. A couple players just need to take the lead and do it. 

[Pine Barrens Mafia]

They can already. All these millionaires looking for sympathy lol

[ddaryl]

It will be the next CBA sticking point IMO.

 

There should be a base amount of guaranteed allowed then the rest should be incentive base. As much as the players need to be protected the franchises themselves will also require protections of some sort. The system will need to find middle ground

[ALF]

I prefer incentives over guarantees. In return take good care of injured players after they were forced to retire.

[SlimShady'sSpaceForce]

IMO I think that half of the total amount should be guaranteed the rest incentive based.   

[xxxxxxxx]

There is too little organization and too much confusion and misinformation for this problem to be solved any time soon. Too many people think that players are paid well enough when a few are (starters) and most aren't (backups and practice squad). 

 

 

 

Edited July 28, 2018 by MURPHD6

[Kirby Jackson]

There is going to be some balance moving forward. A minimum portion of all contracts will be guaranteed. I don’t think that the NFL will ever get close to other sports but it will change. Maybe something like the minimum contract for a player of a certain tenure is guaranteed? The guys that get more wont have to worry but it is almost like a minimum wage effect. If you sign a guy to a 1 year vet minimum, he gets that regardless of whether or not you keep him. It’s for guys like Keenan Robinson and John Hughes. Just a thought...

2 minutes ago, ShadyBillsFan said:

IMO I think that half of the total amount should be guaranteed the rest incentive based.   

That’s a fair solution as well.

[NoSaint]

Any guy could walk into the GMs office and request a fully guaranteed deal. He’d get a lot less because he’s putting 100% if the risk in the team- but any of them could if they wanted. They all want to bet on themselves and chase the biggest payday and not the most reliable dollars though. (Not disparaging anyone with that)

 

for the vet minimum type players id be down for tying their reduced cap hit to guaranteeing the salary, or something similar. Just have to be careful you balance it right so as not to push guys out of the league  

[plenzmd1]

#1) if the players would act together and not sign deals unless they were guaranteed, you would have guaranteed contracts.

 

#2) There are guarantees now, called signing bonuses...as well as other guarantees

 

#3) In return for said signing bonuses, teams insist on years at the end of a deal that are team options..players give in for some reason. For cap reasons could make them player/team option. both have to agree to move forward

 

#4) Agree with Kirby, moving forward I believe you will see more and more deals signed that are shorter, with each year guaranteed and no signing bonus. Ala Sammy Watkins and the 3-year deal he signed, all fully guaranteed I believe...or at least most of it(edit..$30M guaranteed). And that dude gets another bite at the apple when he is still in 20's....so he did get a big signing bonus...i think that goes away too

Edited July 28, 2018 by plenzmd1

[Kirby Jackson]

8 minutes ago, NoSaint said:

Any guy could walk into the GMs office and request a fully guaranteed deal. He’d get a lot less because he’s putting 100% if the risk in the team- but any of them could if they wanted. They all want to bet on themselves and chase the biggest payday and not the most reliable dollars though. (Not disparaging anyone with that)

 

for the vet minimum type players id be down for tying their reduced cap hit to guaranteeing the salary, or something similar. Just have to be careful you balance it right so as not to push guys out of the league  

That’s the part that you need to be careful about. If everyone comes with some sort of minimum though I don’t think it pushes the “John Hughes’ of the world” out of the league. He may come with a little higher guarantee than a rookie but both may have the same cap hit if creative enough. 

[MAJBobby]

I have a feeling you will see QBs getting full Guaranteed Contracts. And eventually tied to cap. 

 

Example Carson Wentz signs a 5 year 20% of Cap per year Fully Guaranteed. 

 

In this year that would be about 35M. And will go up and or down with the Salary Cap increases or decrease. 

Edited July 28, 2018 by MAJBobby

[Teddy KGB]

42 minutes ago, MURPHD6 said:

There is too little organization and too much confusion and misinformation for this problem to be solved any time soon. Too many people think that players are paid well enough when a few are (starters) and most aren't (backups and practice squad). 

 

 

 

 

The league minimum for a 4th year player is close to 700,000.    

 

They are paid well.   

[Ed_Formerly_of_Roch]

A while back(2017??) recall hearing the head of the NFL union Demarrus Smith is it, on the radio talking about guaranteed contracts, didn't sound like he was a huge fan as stated a number of down sides to them.  Don't recall too much of what he said anymore other than an offshoot could be much shorter contracts, more one year deals.  Didn't sound like he ready to start banging on the table to demand them as there were downsides to them.

[Big Turk]

Looking at the crazy fullt guaranteed contracts in other sports its hard not to feel a little bad for them. Granted there are a lot more players on an NFL team but they also have the most revenue of any league too.

 

The NBA is getting outrageous...fringe players averaging 2.5 PPG are getting $8 million a year contracts due to having so much cap space and only 12 players on a team.

 

 

Edited July 28, 2018 by matter2003

[Virgil]

I think guaranteed contracts ruin baseball, but their players don't get paid to start their careers much at all.

 

I would like to see half guaranteed, half incentive based contracts.  Or, some kind of buy-out option that protects the team and player in case of injury.  

 

Incentives make the most sense in case the player craps the bed

[billsfan89]

IF and this is a big IF, if the NFL decided to do only guaranteed contracts you would see only 1-2 year deals for non-QB players after their rookie deals expire. Which I am fine with but that would mean a tremendous amount of volatility year to year as teams will have a shot at signing almost every All-Pro player each off-season. 

 

I think you probably would have to fully adjust the CBA. For one you would have to massively increase the 5th year option on 1st round picks since under a 1-2 year scale of guaranteed contracts having a 5th year option would be a disadvantage to players drafted in the 1st round (Basically punishing a player for being drafted in the 1st round by giving them less flexibility.) 

 

Secondly, you would have to cap contract length to 3 years. Most elite free agents would only be on 2-3 year deals while the vast majority of the league would be on 1 years deals. Capping the length minimizes risk for teams and allows players to collect on 2-3 massive deals while having flexibility.  I think you would also have to see picks drafted in the first 4 rounds receive fully guaranteed 4-year deals while rounds 5-7 have 2-year guaranteed deals with team options for two more years. Any UDFA that signs a one year deal and makes the roster has that year's salary guaranteed and the team has an option for a 2nd year. After that second year, a player hits restricted free agency. 

 

The risk of securing these massive deals goes down for owners as they are never tied to a player for more than 3 massively guaranteed seasons (Which I suspect would be rare most players would be on 1-2 year deals.) The players get short-term security and long-term flexibility. I also think that fans wouldn't be as hurt because the amount of "Dead Cap" wouldn't be that much worse. If a team now hands out a big 5 year deal with a lot of guaranteed money the team is still stuck with that player for 2-3 seasons anyway. So a big 3-year guarantee that gets hurt right away only really drains you of 2 additional years. 

 

I also think that you would have to change the franchise tag a bit. In order to provide some stability for teams, you could give teams 2 "Franchise Tags" each off-season. However, all a franchise tag does is give the player the current "Top 5" average salary offer sheet that they could sign and play out or the player could sign with another team and the team that tagged the player could match the offer. That would help player retention a little bit as teams could save 2 critical players each off-season but since the player can still get an offer from another team you won't have holdouts. 

 

This system would prevent holdouts and make things a bit better for the players. 

Edited July 28, 2018 by billsfan89

[Bruce_Stools]

3 hours ago, MURPHD6 said:

There is too little organization and too much confusion and misinformation for this problem to be solved any time soon. Too many people think that players are paid well enough when a few are (starters) and most aren't (backups and practice squad). 

 

 

 

You don’t think backup players make enough money???  Why don’t you come work with me and you can do my job and I’ll sit back, because you’re better than I am, and I’ll become a millionaire riding the bench.

 

........doesn’t make sense to me either lol

[NoSaint]

3 hours ago, Teddy KGB said:

 

The league minimum for a 4th year player is close to 700,000.    

 

They are paid well.   

 

Practice squad or fringe guys are rough. But if you are playing out a rookie contract you are well paid. No doubt.

 

It’s those guys that are in the league one week, out for a month. Back on a practice squad three weeks and then active week 17 for a team that’s eliminated and then free agent til August that have it rough. And if you had to guarantee a full year every time you signed them it might even be longer that they wait between opportunities