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I know we talked about it last year, but...
It's not yet June and we only have 2 players left to sign from the draft - Norwood and Pierre-Louis.
According to PFT, more than half of all picks have signed. What a difference from previous years prior to salary slotting.

NorthHawk wrote:I know we talked about it last year, but...
It's not yet June and we only have 2 players left to sign from the draft - Norwood and Pierre-Louis.
According to PFT, more than half of all picks have signed. What a difference from previous years prior to salary slotting.

Yep. It's a win-win, too. Experienced veterans were pissed because unproven rookies were making 10 or 15 times what they were. I'm all for the free market determining prices, but it was getting way, way out of control. The only losers are the handful of rookies like Sam Bradford and their agents.

The only losers are the handful of rookies like Sam Bradford and their agents

I think Bradford. he got 50m.... not exactly a 'loser' -- however the Seahawks own Russell Wilson is probably the #1 on the list, now that Richard got his $$$.

Great for us the fans. Too much sweating out the holdouts and then finding out they are busts.

js

The best CBA change ever.

jshawaii22 wrote:The only losers are the handful of rookies like Sam Bradford and their agents

I think Bradford. he got 50m.... not exactly a 'loser' -- however the Seahawks own Russell Wilson is probably the #1 on the list, now that Richard got his $$$.

Great for us the fans. Too much sweating out the holdouts and then finding out they are busts.

js

I said "like" Bradford, ie rookies, particularly quarterbacks, drafted in the top 10. Cam Newton is one example. Jake Locker lost tens of millions by coming back for his senior year at UW, both because his draft stock slid and because he came in under the new CBA vs. the old. Those are the losers, and there's damn few of them.

It's also good for those teams that are building or re-building.
Their Salary Cap isn't dominated by an untested rookie at QB resulting from the high first round pick.
It's another plank in the parity platform that has made the NFL so competitive.

Simply nothing not to like in this one. No longer have teams losing a year from their selections because they don't show up until the week of the first game, rookies aren't destroying teams ability to compete if they flame out, they have to have a body of work before they hit the "jackpot" and are as a whole more focussed on playing well so they can hit it.

( on a side not, it will be interesting to see if classic early first round "busts" go down as we move forward, I wouldn't be shocked to see that be the case. )

NorthHawk wrote:It's also good for those teams that are building or re-building.
Their Salary Cap isn't dominated by an untested rookie at QB resulting from the high first round pick.
It's another plank in the parity platform that has made the NFL so competitive.

To me this is the #1 benefit.

The teams at the bottom were being HURT because very few players drafted early were meeting or exceeding the expectations based on salary.

The previous CBA guaranteed that the bottom-dwellers would add a huge contract without necessarily adding a good player.

Back before many people knew about salary cap I advocated the teams at the top just let the clock expire if there were no trade down opportunities. Most people thought that was stupid, but I thought paying $40m to a guy who hasn't played a single snap as a pro was pretty stupid.

Draft picks are about acquiring talent CHEAPLY.

briwas101 wrote:

NorthHawk wrote:It's also good for those teams that are building or re-building.
Their Salary Cap isn't dominated by an untested rookie at QB resulting from the high first round pick.
It's another plank in the parity platform that has made the NFL so competitive.

To me this is the #1 benefit.

The teams at the bottom were being HURT because very few players drafted early were meeting or exceeding the expectations based on salary.

The previous CBA guaranteed that the bottom-dwellers would add a huge contract without necessarily adding a good player.

Back before many people knew about salary cap I advocated the teams at the top just let the clock expire if there were no trade down opportunities. Most people thought that was stupid, but I thought paying $40m to a guy who hasn't played a single snap as a pro was pretty stupid.

Draft picks are about acquiring talent CHEAPLY.

Agreed. That's why I've been so on edge the past couple of drafts because I don't see us utilizing our top picks very well. Carpenter, Irvin, Michael, the Harvin trade.... we've been hitting the jack pot in the lower rounds, but I worry that some day that our luck may run out.