Are sports’ drafts fair to the players?

[Boxcar]

6 hours ago, TheFunPolice said:

So no more trades then either?

 

This is a collectively bargained aspect of sports. The PLAYERS signed off on the deal, because they know a healthy league with 32 financially viable teams is best for the largest number of guys. It also is something the players agree to in order to get the owners to share a larger % of revenues. 

 

Draft goes away=% of revenues players get goes down significantly. 

 

Plus, there's only so many spots on the Bills and Chiefs rosters. 

 

Florio will always see the cloud in the silver lining. Last year he didn't want the draft to happen, training camp to happen, the season to happen, and he latches onto endlessly covers any negative story about the NFL. 

 

 

You can negotiate a no trade clause in your contract, if you so choose.

Just now, Doc said:

 

You realize the hypocrisy of this statement, coupled with the ones right above it, right?

 

No, I don't think I do. You don't get to decide what is or isn't fair. Sorry.

[JaCrispy]

7 minutes ago, Boxcar said:

You can negotiate a no trade clause in your contract, if you so choose.

No, I don't think I do. You don't get to decide what is or isn't fair. Sorry.

You’re right...the players have decided, for themselves, what is fair, by agreeing to the CBA...

Edited April 27, 2021 by JaCrispy

[Doc]

2 minutes ago, Boxcar said:

No, I don't think I do. You don't get to decide what is or isn't fair. Sorry.

 

OK, let me explain it.  The owners, who make more than a player will ever see in his lifetime, don't care whether it's fair if there's a draft just as much as the players don't care if they make more money than some of us do in a lifetime.   And also you don't get to decided what is and isn't fair. But the draft is not going away.  Period.

[Ethan in Cleveland]

4 minutes ago, JaCrispy said:

You’re right...the players have decided, for themselves, what is fair, by agreeing to the CBA...are we done now?

To be fair, this is not entirely accurate.  The CBA is negotiated and agreed by current players. It does cover the draft and rookie wage scale. BUT those future rookies are not part of the union yet and are thus not represented. They only get to choose to agree to be part of the process as designed or not play at all.  Point in fact the rookie wage scale took money out of the pocket of rookies and diverted it to veterans. That may be the right thing to do for the league and some portion of current NFL players but it does lower potential income for incoming rookies. Not saying it is wrong or a bad idea, just saying point of fact current and future rookies had no role in negotiating the CBA.

[Doc]

1 minute ago, Ethan in Portland said:

To be fair, this is not entirely accurate.  The CBA is negotiated and agreed by current players. It does cover the draft and rookie wage scale. BUT those future rookies are not part of the union yet and are thus not represented. They only get to choose to agree to be part of the process as designed or not play at all.  Point in fact the rookie wage scale took money out of the pocket of rookies and diverted it to veterans. That may be the right thing to do for the league and some portion of current NFL players but it does lower potential income for incoming rookies. Not saying it is wrong or a bad idea, just saying point of fact current and future rookies had no role in negotiating the CBA.

 

True, but by agreeing to enter the draft/process, they tacitly agree to the terms of the CBA.

[Boxcar]

15 minutes ago, Doc said:

 

OK, let me explain it.  The owners, who make more than a player will ever see in his lifetime, don't care whether it's fair if there's a draft just as much as the players don't care if they make more money than some of us do in a lifetime.   And also you don't get to decided what is and isn't fair. But the draft is not going away.  Period.

I never claimed to decide what's fair or not. The market decides. The NFL itself is not a free market.

[TBBills]

23 hours ago, Tipster19 said:

I watched an a video on ProFootballTalk and Mike Florio brought up a very good point. Sports are the only employment that comes to mind where the employee doesn’t get to choose where he gets employed. I never thought or looked at it that way but that’s a very good point. I wonder if sports’ drafts someday get eliminated. 

Sports drafts keep things even. The ability to be a bad team and change your franchise by choosing the correct guy is the only way to do it.

[JaCrispy]

29 minutes ago, Doc said:

 

True, but by agreeing to enter the draft/process, they tacitly agree to the terms of the CBA.

Exactly...and by agreeing to the terms of the CBA, they are, essentially, saying it’s fair...

[Doc]

25 minutes ago, Boxcar said:

I never claimed to decide what's fair or not. The market decides. The NFL itself is not a free market.

 

Neither did I.  I have zero influence over what the NFL does.  And yes the NFL is not a free market.  Players going into it know this.  If they think it's unfair, they don't have to do so.  There is no rule that says they have to be allowed to play in the NFL.

2 minutes ago, JaCrispy said:

Exactly...and by agreeing to the terms of the CBA, they are, essentially, saying it’s fair...

 

Either they believe it's fair or they'll put up with the unfairness because of all the other perks.

[mannc]

23 hours ago, Doc said:

It's the NFL's rules.  If they don't like it, they don't have to participate.  There's no law saying they have a right to choose.

It’s the NFL’s rules, as negotiated with the NFLPA.  It’s one of the reasons the league NEEDS the NFLPA; the arrangement would be illegal if it were not collectively bargained.

 

 

[mannc]

55 minutes ago, Ethan in Portland said:

To be fair, this is not entirely accurate.  The CBA is negotiated and agreed by current players. It does cover the draft and rookie wage scale. BUT those future rookies are not part of the union yet and are thus not represented. They only get to choose to agree to be part of the process as designed or not play at all.  Point in fact the rookie wage scale took money out of the pocket of rookies and diverted it to veterans. That may be the right thing to do for the league and some portion of current NFL players but it does lower potential income for incoming rookies. Not saying it is wrong or a bad idea, just saying point of fact current and future rookies had no role in negotiating the CBA.

This is a valid point.  There is a certain unfairness to incoming rookies, but they also benefit from other aspects of the CBA throughout the rest of their careers.  

[Tipster19]

7 hours ago, Chandler#81 said:

and you wonder why people shred you all the time..🤦‍♂️

Really??? What is it that I’m doing wrong? I brought up a football subject that a national pundit discussed and I thought that it was an interesting take 2.6k+ board members viewed it, 130+ responses to discuss it and I get called out for posting it?? I must have came to the wrong place to talk about Florio’s opinion. What I really don’t get is why you or anyone else would respond to it if it offended you so much. 

[TheFunPolice]

It's simple.

 

The rookies to be participate in the process willingly.

 

If they don't want to be part of it they don't have to. Playing pro football is not a right. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You don't see many unhappy guys who were just drafted.

 

Generations of wealth overnight as the result of a process they chose to enter. So unfair! 

[CountDorkula]

11 hours ago, TBBills said:

Sports drafts keep things even. The ability to be a bad team and change your franchise by choosing the correct guy is the only way to do it.

This is entirely false.

[AlCowlingsTaxiService]

On 4/25/2021 at 9:47 PM, Mc1320 said:

Let them quit professional sports and they can get a regular job wherever they want.

 

 I was recently laid off after 17 years with a company because the private equity group that bought it, loaded it up with debt and canned the senior people when their horribly unrealistic revenue projections did not pan out and they needed to cut costs.

 

So if a pro athlete wants to complain about anything, they can cry me a river.

21 years for me buddy ... I feel your pain

[Freddie's Dead]

Of course it's unfair to the players, but no one cares, they want their football.  A player can achieve free agency after four or five years, but then there's that pesky "franchise tag"....

[TBBills]

1 hour ago, CountDorkula said:

This is entirely false.

Good explanation

[CountDorkula]

3 minutes ago, TBBills said:

Good explanation

A Good/Great QB prospect is not going to go to a team who already has a good QB in this scenario.

 

A team that doesn't have a good QB is going to go hard for Lawerence in this example.

 

Indy tanked to get Luck, that should not be rewarded.

 

Imagine Buffalo being average for say 15-18 years, but instead of drafting at 8-15 every year, they are able to go out and sign a guy like Matt Ryan or Cam Newton or Matt Stafford.

 

Don't award Teams for being bad, especially on purpose. 

 

 

 

[CountDorkula]

11 hours ago, TheFunPolice said:

It's simple.

 

The rookies to be participate in the process willingly.

 

If they don't want to be part of it they don't have to. Playing pro football is not a right. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You don't see many unhappy guys who were just drafted.

 

Generations of wealth overnight as the result of a process they chose to enter. So unfair! 

 

The average contract in the NFL is like 850K,  while still a great salary, a majority of careers are over in 3 years, and most of thses guys are making less than 850K

So you are 25 with we will say about 1 million take home after taxes and everything else the NFL takes out. Far cry from generational wealth.

So generations of wealth is wildly thrown around but is really only viable for maybe 20% of the league.

[TheFunPolice]

3 hours ago, CountDorkula said:

 

The average contract in the NFL is like 850K,  while still a great salary, a majority of careers are over in 3 years, and most of thses guys are making less than 850K

So you are 25 with we will say about 1 million take home after taxes and everything else the NFL takes out. Far cry from generational wealth.

So generations of wealth is wildly thrown around but is really only viable for maybe 20% of the league.

 

It's true that all of these guys aren't banking Mahomes type money. But even random 5th and 6th rounders are doing pretty well. 

 

I went through and just looked at the 2020 draft list and did some quick research on a handful of random 5th and 6th round players. They all pretty much had 4 year, 3-4 million dollar contracts. 

 

Here's some detail on a random Colts LB taken last year in the 6th round: Jordan Glasgow. I have no idea who he is, but he was the 2nd to last player taken in round 6. 

 

His contract is 4 years, $3.4 million. Looking at the details, he got a $129,000 signing bonus, and if he plays this season will have made:

 

$129,000 bonus

$610,000 2020 salary

$780,000 2021 salary

 

TOTAL: 1,519,000 over 2 years

 

Now, you're right, that's not all take home pay, and there's no guarantee he will play more than 2 seasons. There's no guarantee he'll even play this year. As Kyle Shanahan reminded us all recently, none of us are guaranteed anything, so that's a wash in terms of "fairness." 

 

But what IS true (assuming he is not released in 2021) is that in 2 years Glasgow will have earned just over $1.5 million dollars for running around on special teams, and he will have a free college degree and only be 25 years old, which is old for a guy who only played 2 years. 

 

The question was "is the draft fair?" 

 

I think you could argue that the draft was GOOD for Mr. Glasgow. By virtue of his draft position he was entitled to a slotted contract, determined by the league. He's on a very good team with good to great coaching. Judging by his stats (just a bunch of special teams snaps) I don't think teams would be knocking down his door to sign him if there wasn't a draft. But since the Colts had a 6th round pick they used it on a guy they have a vested interest in developing. If they do, he will get rich in his second contract. 

 

If not, he'll walk away with 1.5 million if they let him go after this season. If he sticks around 1 more year, he'll have pocketed over 2.2 million in just 3 years. 

 

And his earning days wouldn't just be over then. He would be a former NFL player with hundreds of thousands to a million dollars in the bank, decent health, youth, an education, and lots of contacts. Once you are an NFL player you are in an exclusive club. It opens doors. 

 

That is the "lower end of the draft" type player who only plays 2 seasons then his career ends. 

 

For comparison, since we're talking earnings, a potential classmate of his who does pretty well upon graduation and makes $50,000 in his/her first job would need to work at that job for 30 years to equal the income that Mr. Glasgow earned in 2 by willingly entering a league that has a draft in order to pursue a football career. 

 

So my answer is YES, the draft is fair for the players.