NFL Rookie Salaries, Bonuses Complicate Labor Debate

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/21/AR2008052102719.html

By Mark Maske
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, May 22, 2008; Page E03

The biggest issue dividing NFL owners and the players' union as they prepare for a new set of labor negotiations is what percentage of league revenue should go to players under the salary cap system. Owners say the current deal giving players close to 60 percent is overly favorable to them. Union chief Gene Upshaw says there won't be any givebacks.

But there are other issues as well, which NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and the owners made clear after Tuesday's unanimous vote by the owners to terminate the labor agreement two years early. Among the owners' issues are the escalation of rookies' salaries and the inability of teams under the current rules to recoup bonus money from certain players, including Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick.

Both issues could be divisive, with Upshaw saying he doesn't intend to make concessions on those matters, either.

The rookie pay issue was highlighted Tuesday when, hours after the owners voted to exercise the reopener clause in the labor agreement, the Falcons announced that they had signed quarterback Matt Ryan to a six-year contract. The deal reportedly will pay Ryan, the third overall selection in the NFL draft last month, as much as $72 million, including $34.75 million guaranteed.

General managers and other front-office executives around the league have been saying for months that they felt something needed to be done to curb the escalation of salaries for just-drafted players. Why, they wonder, should a player such as Ryan, who hasn't thrown a single NFL pass, have a contract more lucrative than that of a three-time Super Bowl winner such as the New England Patriots' Tom Brady? Those executives say there perhaps should be a system by which a rookie would be assigned a predetermined contract value based on his draft slot.

A written statement issued by the league Tuesday in conjunction with the owners' vote called it "irrational" that "in the current system some rookies are able to secure contracts that pay them more than top proven veterans."

FULL story at link.