Monday Money Matters

I understand the natural reaction to the magnitude of the contract the Lions gave to Matthew Stafford, the top pick in this year’s draft, but perhaps the hysteria over rookie salaries should be toned down a bit. Mind you, we are rightfully dismayed at the eye-popping numbers of this contract, yet its size is not a surprise to anyone in the industry.  This is one – and the biggest one -- of a minority of rookie contracts that cause outrage, while the majority are fixed and reasonable costs to NFL teams that balance Salary Caps against the large veteran contracts on the team.

The Lions had to know that when they were negotiating the top pick’s contract and he was a quarterback represented by the same agent who represented the top contract – as well as the top pick’s contract – in the draft last year. The data point that the agent, Tom Condon, was using was not the Jake Long contract (which he also negotiated) and its $30M guaranteed because Long is a lineman. Rather, Condon used the starting point of the Matt Ryan contract as the third pick last year and its $34.75M in guarantees. Condon held his stance from the first conversation, requesting a 20-percent increase from that number, which he ultimately received, equaling $41.7M in guaranteed money. 

Conveniently, the $41.7M also exceeds the highest guaranteed money in an NFL contract -- that of Albert Haynesworth and his $41M guaranteed from the Redskins. As for the average, it maxes out – were Stafford to hit all of his escalators -- at $78M for the six years, a nice round number of $13M per season. And yes, this will be part of the conversation in upcoming negotiations for players such as Eli Manning, Philip Rivers, Jay Cutler and others. Stafford will likely never see the final years of this deal. If he’s a bust, he will be long gone. If he’s a quality player, this deal will be renegotiated on or before year five.

There will be more dazzling contracts at the top of the draft, as there are every year, and more outrage at those sums. How to stop it? One obvious way is for teams to just say no.  That, though, seems unlikely. However, as any agent or team official knows, once past the top group of picks, the money paid to rookies represents some of the best value for teams in the league.

There are many quality players in the NFL playing for less than $500,000 in their third or fourth years due to these much-debated rookie contracts.  As with any debate, there are two sides to this subject.

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