Deion Sanders says Shedeur & Hunter will decide where they play

[Torc]

My point had nothing to do with it being soooo rough or the money they make. It's about having the freedom to seek work where they want to work if they're qualified to do so. Just like you and me.

A couple of jobs ago I was working for a company that had merged with several others. I was given the option of being laid off, or moving from the Tacoma office to the Portland office.

My son in law worked for Amazon, was hired as a remote worker during Covid. He lived in Florida. Amazon decided to pull people back into the office, and gave him a year to move to Seattle or lose his job.

If you want to work for a specific company, you have to go where they have a spot for your skillset. Microsoft, Amazon, Ford, Boeing, whatever.

These kids want to work for the NFL. They have to work in the location the NFL assigns to them (through the draft).

 

[knownone]

There's a lot of people who agree with me on this issue, a lot of NFL people. The armed services analogy is not a good one, IMO. That's service to your country. Playing in the NFL is just a job, but one where certain freedoms that other workers have are denied them by an archaic system of indentured servitude.

The NFL functions pretty much as a monopoly. I just think player's rights are woefully lagging. Not being able to choose where you want to work? Huh?

I know most everybody likes the draft. I do too. But when you look at the draft open-mindedly, it's a pretty damn archaic system. I don't know how anyone could argue otherwise.

The NFL is an industry with rules to ensure competitiveness. Nothing mandates these kids to play in the league, so if they want to work in a profession that allows them to choose where they live, they can. Calling playing in the NFL "indentured servitude" is ridiculous. Indentured servants don't earn an income. NFL players, even those on the lowest rungs, are extremely well-paid.

Similarly, the players are in a collective bargaining agreement. If this issue infringed on their rights, they've had numerous opportunities to negotiate and find a compromise. Part of that compromise is earning millions of dollars.

The issue with the Sanders kids is that they are already millionaires, leveraging their dad's fame and wealth for selfish reasons. It's the highest form of entitlement, wanting to change the system because you want to get your way. If the NFL were smart, they wouldn't allow this to happen. They should tell them to sit out until they are ready to be adults.

 

[GemCity]

I think he’s a good player with the potential to be great. But, no doubt he’s got to get the antics under control.

There’s a whole lot of yapping going on…

The NFL is full of star athletes. Hungry for success. He’s not going to come in and do what Stroud did.

 

[jeremiah]

I'm with Deion on this one. The draft is a totally archaic system that should go the way of the dinosaur. I mean, we live in a free country, don't we? Why can't NFL prospects go where they want to, play where they want to play? I'm surprised this hasn't gone to the courts yet. The draft should be done away with in all professional sports. It's a mild form of indentured servitude.

The teams decide to abide by certain rules to keep the teams competitive. The draft is there to do that. A guy doesn't want to play for Albany, and prefers Redding, he has the option of not playing for either of them. Sitting out a year, and getting older. Which is the way College used to be and should be still. The madness of that way it is now, guarantees certain teams will always be good, until football or basketball teams are no more. A non competitive sport, will die.

 

[NoGain]

I'm really surprised that posters in this thread defend the idea of the draft so vehemently as freedom and liberty loving Americans. I'd be willing to bet that in future the draft will go the way of the dinosaur. The players have gained increasing amounts of power over the years. This is just going to be another step in that direction. It may not happen all at once, but incrementally so.

 

[chris98251]

I'm really surprised that posters in this thread defend the idea of the draft so vehemently as freedom and liberty loving Americans. I'd be willing to bet that in future the draft will go the way of the dinosaur. The players have gained increasing amounts of power over the years. This is just going to be another step in that direction. It may not happen all at once, but incrementally so.

You don't have to play in the NFL, its business model is worst teams select player first in a draft to maintain balance as well as competitive levels, Salary cap ensures that a super-rich owner cannot dominate, we would have a NBA or European Soccer elite league with a hand full of teams. The league would die since so much depends on TV revenue, eliminate TV for the markets with losing teams and you have no NFL.

 

[NoGain]

You don't have to play in the NFL, its business model is worst teams select player first in a draft to maintain balance as well as competitive levels, Salary cap ensures that a super-rich owner cannot dominate, we would have a NBA or European Soccer elite league with a hand full of teams. The league would die since so much depends on TV revenue, eliminate TV for the markets with losing teams and you have no NFL.

Put the competitive balance thing aside. That's beside the point. From all I've read on this issue the only thing that keeps the draft from being ruled illegal under the Sherman Anti-Trust Act is the fact that there's a player's union. There's nothing quite like this where a player (worker) can't go out into the marketplace and sell their services to the highest bidder and or to the team they'd most like to work for.

The draft will eventually go away. It may take some time and be incremental in nature, but its days are eventually numbered. I mean, just look at the NIL thing and the transfer portal in college. The handwriting is on the wall. Things are changing. The players are getting more power.

 

[chris98251]

Put the competitive balance thing aside. That's beside the point. From all I've read on this issue the only thing that keeps the draft from being ruled illegal under the Sherman Anti-Trust Act is the fact that there's a player's union. There's nothing quite like this where a player (worker) can't go out into the marketplace and sell their services to the highest bidder and or to the team they'd most like to work for.

The draft will eventually go away. It may take some time and be incremental in nature, but its days are eventually numbered. I mean, just look at the NIL thing and the transfer portal in college. The handwriting is on the wall. Things are changing. The players are getting more power.

If true they are going to bleed themselves out of a job, College football is on it's way also, TV revenue can't cover what the cost of players, coaches, stadiums and other sports in a college. Transfer portal has killed loyalty and following of schools also, or will, people are just not invested like they used to be. Again Greed will kill all of it. In fact TV is slowly losing viewership as well, not cable and streaming but Networks, with that goes advertising revenue, which is the Golden Goose for them and everyone that is broadcast on their channels.

 

[Ostatehawk]

Perhaps you have several millions of dollars…I don’t.

They often do.

I’d play for $300K a year….for the Alaskan Snowballs.

I don’t find it ironic nor surprising that some players simply don’t want to be somewhere geographically…let alone play for some franchises.

I hear the Snowballs are weak on the O line.

 

[Torc]

When/if the draft goes away, I'll stop watching. I have no desire to see the 3 or 4 wealthiest teams have a lock on the playoffs every year.

 

[GemCity]

I think drafted players need a longer restriction if they chose to sit/not play for a team.

As it stands, they only have to sit out a year and re-enter the draft. If they sit out that next year as well, they are then a FA.

Maybe make it two or three years and then automatically become a FA.

 

[NoGain]

I kind of think the whole rookie pay scale and team control thing is a bit crazy for the players, and sometimes I can't believe what the player's union concedes to. The idea that, say, a first round pick can't get what he's truly worth in a competitive market in a violent sport with very short careers, and then the team that drafts him has pretty much full control over him for five years seems kind of absurd from a strictly labor side of the equation. It's even worse in baseball.

 

[chris98251]

I kind of think the whole rookie pay scale and team control thing is a bit crazy for the players, and sometimes I can't believe what the player's union concedes to. The idea that, say, a first round pick can't get what he's truly worth in a competitive market in a violent sport with very short careers, and then the team that drafts him has pretty much full control over him for five years seems kind of absurd from a strictly labor side of the equation. It's even worse in baseball.

So guys like Mandarich, Bradford, Jamarcus Russell, Akili Smith, Kajana Carter, and others should get 50 million out of the gate and if they suck teams are on the hook for the whole salary. Again there is some prove it to me in there and it's 4 years if teams don't exercise their option. While guys like Brady, Purdy, Warner earned less played better and waited to get their payday anyway.

 

[Torc]

I kind of think the whole rookie pay scale and team control thing is a bit crazy for the players, and sometimes I can't believe what the player's union concedes to. The idea that, say, a first round pick can't get what he's truly worth in a competitive market in a violent sport with very short careers, and then the team that drafts him has pretty much full control over him for five years seems kind of absurd from a strictly labor side of the equation. It's even worse in baseball.

Yeah, I'm crying for all those draftees. Mr. Irrelevant will earn $4.1 million in his rookie contract (assuming he makes the team). Highway robbery, I tell you.

First pick in the first round will get a $38.5 million contract, with almost $25 million in the signing bonus. The 32nd pick will get $12 million, with a $5 million signing bonus.

You talk about the rest of us who get to pick where we want to work etc etc. Well, the rest of us also probably work in industries where our salary is slotted in to a pay range of 10s of thousands of dollars. There isn't a lot of room for negotation. A first round pick will make more in his 4-5 year rookie deal than the vast majority of us will see in a lifetime.

And you're right, it IS even worse in baseball. Where dudes playing a @@#$@ game sign for tens or hundreds of millions of fully guaranteed dollars. They can leave the game and they still continue to get paid. What other industry has to keep paying employees after they've left the company?

Sorry, I love watching the Hawks and I know that makes me part of the problem. But DANG we overvalue entertainers. A 10 year player earns enough in his career to retire comfortably. Yes, football players are taking lots of hits. Wanna see something suprising? Check out the list of the 25 most dangerous jobs. They're listed by number of FATALITIES. Spoiler alert: NFL player isn't on the list.

 

[NoGain]

Yeah, I'm crying for all those draftees. Mr. Irrelevant will earn $4.1 million in his rookie contract (assuming he makes the team). Highway robbery, I tell you.

First pick in the first round will get a $38.5 million contract, with almost $25 million in the signing bonus. The 32nd pick will get $12 million, with a $5 million signing bonus.

You talk about the rest of us who get to pick where we want to work etc etc. Well, the rest of us also probably work in industries where our salary is slotted in to a pay range of 10s of thousands of dollars. There isn't a lot of room for negotation. A first round pick will make more in his 4-5 year rookie deal than the vast majority of us will see in a lifetime.

And you're right, it IS even worse in baseball. Where dudes playing a @@#$@ game sign for tens or hundreds of millions of fully guaranteed dollars. They can leave the game and they still continue to get paid. What other industry has to keep paying employees after they've left the company?

Sorry, I love watching the Hawks and I know that makes me part of the problem. But DANG we overvalue entertainers. A 10 year player earns enough in his career to retire comfortably. Yes, football players are taking lots of hits. Wanna see something suprising? Check out the list of the 25 most dangerous jobs. They're listed by number of FATALITIES. Spoiler alert: NFL player isn't on the list.

It has nothing to do with the amount of money the players are getting. I personally think players are making ridiculous amounts of money. And let's not compare the average person to elite athletes playing a sport where they're generating billions of dollars from fans paying to admire their talents. The fact that athletes make so much money is on us, the fans. Period. End of story. Don't blame the athletes for that.

There's little doubt in my mind that if Caleb Williams could shop his talent in an open NFL market, he would be making somewhere in the neighborhood of 50-60 million dollars a year on his first contact. Does anyone dispute this?

 

[Torc]

And let's not compare the average person to elite athletes playing a sport where they're generating billions of dollars from fans paying to admire their talents.

Do you even read your own posts?

NoGain said:
My point had nothing to do with it being soooo rough or the money they make. It's about having the freedom to seek work where they want to work if they're qualified to do so. Just like you and me.

Maybe Caleb Williams could make a lot more on the open market. That might be better for the player. But would it be better for the game, make it more exciting for the fans? I'm so tired of players whining about what a raw deal they have when they're making millions of guaranteed dollars. They're paid as much as they are partly because of the parity that the draft and salary cap enforce. That makes it a more appealing game to the fans - a big reason the NFL generates more revenue than the NBA and MLB combined.

 

[NoGain]

Yes, I'm aware of what I wrote. When I graduated college with my degree, I wasn't put into a draft in my field and forced to go to the company that drafted me, live where I was told, and sign a contract for x number of years of service at x price. That's all I meant. I had a number of choices I could make.

Whenever this subject comes up, it often reverts into two camps:

1) I like my NFL the way it is...
--The draft
--Competitive balance
--This kind of change would be bad for the game
--etc, etc...

or...

2) These rich ungrateful players are benefitting from the system...

--Only a few decades ago, players never saw this kind of money
--If players don't like it, they can go find work elsewhere
--They signed up for it under the CBA
--These athletes are spoiled in comparison to the average Joe
--etc, etc...

A lot of these points are valid, and I agree with some of them. All I'm saying is that when I put what I like about my NFL aside, and put my value judgments aside, and then I look at the draft in the year 2024...I think to myself...my lord is this an archaic system. Almost ridiculously so when I really think about it. I once heard Mike Florio call it Anti-American, but then again, he's a former labor lawyer.

 

[CPHawk]

It has nothing to do with the amount of money the players are getting. I personally think players are making ridiculous amounts of money. And let's not compare the average person to elite athletes playing a sport where they're generating billions of dollars from fans paying to admire their talents. The fact that athletes make so much money is on us, the fans. Period. End of story. Don't blame the athletes for that.

There's little doubt in my mind that if Caleb Williams could shop his talent in an open NFL market, he would be making somewhere in the neighborhood of 50-60 million dollars a year on his first contact. Does anyone dispute this?

Ok. They should let them then. But also let NFL teams cut them with zero penalties to the team . Make contracts a one year deal, but the current team can offer more than anyone else every year after than. Give them a bigger salary cap for signing current players vs FA. Players have to renegotiate every year. Have to have a way for teams to protect themselves from the 50% bust in the draft.

 

[IndyHawk]

So guys like Mandarich, Bradford, Jamarcus Russell, Akili Smith, Kajana Carter, and others should get 50 million out of the gate and if they suck teams are on the hook for the whole salary. Again there is some prove it to me in there and it's 4 years if teams don't exercise their option. While guys like Brady, Purdy, Warner earned less played better and waited to get their payday anyway.

Chris a lot in here won't know those names you posted at top.Just saying

 

[chris98251]

Chris a lot in here won't know those names you posted at top.Just saying

There in lies the issue, nobody looks back at history anymore, pity, and not just in the NFL.