Matthew Stafford is set to make more money next season than Tom Brady

[Elano]

Do we need to fix the rookie salary scale? Eh, maybe

With Matthew Stafford set to make more money than Tom Brady in 2009, no reasonable person is going to tell you that the NFL's current rookie salary system isn't crazier than a sock full of amped-up seahorses. It is that crazy, at least at the very top.

You know what, though? I'm not sure I want it to be fixed. And maybe that makes me crazier than a sock full of amped-up seahorses, but hear me out. I have my reasons.

First, if there's a problem, let's identify a victim. Who exactly is getting the shaft here?

Is it the owners? Here's a hint: No. It's never the owners who gets screwed. That's what makes them owners. Put that handful of rookies aside for a second, and NFL have the sweetest deal in sports. Teams somehow have the right to cut players anytime they please, and are under no obligation to honor the full length of contracts. As long as teams have that right to shred a contract and players don't, I'll not be feeling sorry for the owners.

Is it the general mangers, then? The actual football people charged with building a football team? They'd have a hard time convincing me they were the victims when they're the ones giving out these contracts. If you don't want Matthew Stafford to have $41.7 million, here's an idea: Don't give Matthew Stafford $41.7 million.

The players, maybe? Finally, I feel like we're onto something. And when I say players, I mean veterans who have been around a while and have to constantly worry that their jobs are in danger because a team is not going to pay a rookie what a rookie currently demands and then not play him. I mean the veteran guys who get sent packing because rookies eat up so much of a team's salary cap.

So why wouldn't I want it fixed? Well, I would, but only on the condition that that money somehow gets re-funneled to the veteran players. And I'm not exactly sure how you'd do that.

If the money saved on rookie contracts is only going to help Jerry Jones purchase authentic gorilla-skin seat covers on his yacht, or help Dan Snyder recruit new members for the Coalition for Tree Destruction, then I'm not interested. The owners need and deserve no help. None of them are eating Ramen noodles tonight, you know? They're all doing fine, and they've already get the most one-sided contracts in sports.

So if we can fix it in a way that helps veteran players -- maybe with a dramatically raised salary floor, coupled with the limits on rookie salaries, or maybe with special salary cap dispensations for players of a certain age -- then go ahead and fix it.

But if it only gets fixed to help out the teams, then no thanks. Someone should be raking these NFL owners over the coals, and I'd rather it was rookies than nobody.

[white Boy]

yes put a cap on that shit its rediculous, but you like a week late

[Elano]

yes put a cap on that shit its rediculous, but you like a week late

http://sports.yahoo.com/
Fri May 01, 2009 1:30 pm EDT
 

[eS El Duque]

yes put a cap on that shit its rediculous, but you like a week late

http://sports.yahoo.com/
Fri May 01, 2009 1:30 pm EDT
 

You're a week late. Stick to footy. The draft was LAST saturday and EVERYBODY AND THEIR MOTHER KNEW about Staffords deal the DAY before.


Leave the NFL football news to us North Americans.

[Elano]

yes put a cap on that shit its rediculous, but you like a week late

http://sports.yahoo.com/
Fri May 01, 2009 1:30 pm EDT
 

You're a week late. Stick to footy. The draft was LAST saturday and EVERYBODY AND THEIR MOTHER KNEW about Staffords deal the DAY before.


Leave the NFL football news to us North Americans.

Idiot,the topic is about the salary scale,so it doesn't matter
and don't tell me what i have to do,asshole

[eS El Duque]

yes put a cap on that shit its rediculous, but you like a week late

http://sports.yahoo.com/
Fri May 01, 2009 1:30 pm EDT
 

You're a week late. Stick to footy. The draft was LAST saturday and EVERYBODY AND THEIR MOTHER KNEW about Staffords deal the DAY before.


Leave the NFL football news to us North Americans.

Idiot,the topic is about the salary scale,so it doesn't matter
and don't tell me what i have to do,asshole

kk faggot. stick to soccer.

[Elano]

yes put a cap on that shit its rediculous, but you like a week late

http://sports.yahoo.com/
Fri May 01, 2009 1:30 pm EDT
 

You're a week late. Stick to footy. The draft was LAST saturday and EVERYBODY AND THEIR MOTHER KNEW about Staffords deal the DAY before.


Leave the NFL football news to us North Americans.

moron,stick to
Idiot,the topic is about the salary scale,so it doesn't matter
and don't tell me what i have to do,asshole

kk faggot. stick to soccer.

[eS El Duque]

yes put a cap on that shit its rediculous, but you like a week late

http://sports.yahoo.com/
Fri May 01, 2009 1:30 pm EDT
 

You're a week late. Stick to footy. The draft was LAST saturday and EVERYBODY AND THEIR MOTHER KNEW about Staffords deal the DAY before.


Leave the NFL football news to us North Americans.

moron,stick to
Idiot,the topic is about the salary scale,so it doesn't matter
and don't tell me what i have to do,asshole

kk faggot. stick to soccer.

 

lol @ the Inter fan sucking off a Juventus fan...great gif!

[Elano]

yes put a cap on that shit its rediculous, but you like a week late

http://sports.yahoo.com/
Fri May 01, 2009 1:30 pm EDT
 

You're a week late. Stick to footy. The draft was LAST saturday and EVERYBODY AND THEIR MOTHER KNEW about Staffords deal the DAY before.


Leave the NFL football news to us North Americans.

moron,stick to
Idiot,the topic is about the salary scale,so it doesn't matter
and don't tell me what i have to do,asshole

kk faggot. stick to soccer.

 

lol @ the Inter fan sucking off a Juventus fan...great gif!

no,is your mother

[Chamillitary Click]

anyway...

who gives a fuck who makes more than who?

Brady >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> (about 5 million more ">") Stafford lol.

i mean the salary means shit, it doesnt determine who gets MVP, who makes the Pro-Bowl, just numbers.

if you made two million or sixty-two million a year, your living the life & can buy whatever you need.

[OG Hack Wilson]

stafford > brady

[white Boy]

anyway...

who gives a fuck who makes more than who?

becxause it raises the stadart for all and messes shit up, for example, when mcnabb who wants it now but will get it prob after next year a new contract, he will point to these rookies and want that kind of money for being a veteran,then peopel will look at mccnab, and it goes up, ultimately, i dont want rookies who never played a game in their life setting salary standards, at least it should be veterans who have proven themselves

[Chamillitary Click]

anyway...

who gives a fuck who makes more than who?

becxause it raises the stadart for all and messes shit up, for example, when mcnabb who wants it now but will get it prob after next year a new contract, he will point to these rookies and want that kind of money for being a veteran,then peopel will look at mccnab, and it goes up, ultimately, i dont want rookies who never played a game in their life setting salary standards, at least it should be veterans who have proven themselves

thats fair enough, i agree with that too.

prove yourself first before you start getting money; if your a big bust you shouldnt be making 60 million lol.

[S P I C E]

Yup this is a joke to say the least

[white Boy]

anyway...

who gives a fuck who makes more than who?

becxause it raises the stadart for all and messes shit up, for example, when mcnabb who wants it now but will get it prob after next year a new contract, he will point to these rookies and want that kind of money for being a veteran,then peopel will look at mccnab, and it goes up, ultimately, i dont want rookies who never played a game in their life setting salary standards, at least it should be veterans who have proven themselves

thats fair enough, i agree with that too.

prove yourself first before you start getting money; if your a big bust you shouldnt be making 60 million lol.

it also devalues the top 5, maybe 10 picks, cuase if you got it, you know you gotta fuck up your payroll, for your number 1 pick, that ruins the entire flow of bad teasms getting better through draft, cause if its a bust you are fucked in two holes and not one