My NFL Pet Peeve

As we approach Draft Day 2009 I am excited about what the 2009 Steelers will look like on paper. However this is the time of year I also go into my yearly rant. Rookie SALARY CAP!

Yeah, yeah, yeah this is a free country, blah, blah, blah , blah, blah and people should be allowed to make blah, blah, blah, blah, blah and so on. I get that, but I am also a realist.

Frankly part of the reason the economy is in the crapper is because we Americans take the American dream speech too far and too literal. Look corporate America is greedy no doubt, but the American worker has been known to get stupid and greedy also. Exhibit A - The Auto Industry.

Sometimes enough has to be enough. The Union and its members are pricing themselves out of business. Ask Bethlehem Steel how that works.

My point? The NFL is a booming solvent juggernaut but it is not without any limits. Fiscal reality and sanity does come into play. Yeah, most of the owners are greedy but the cold hard fact is, even the NFL can’ t pay everyone a gazillion dollars and carry on without problems.

One huge change would be a Rookie salary cap. And it is not unprecedented either. The NBA does it.

Frankly when you start at any job, you never get paid more than those with some time in. Do you?  

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Imagine if a McDonald ’s hired some snot nosed 15 year old and paid them as much as the manager from day one. You see where I am going here. Despite pro sports being a specialized skill, everything should be applied in a relative sense.

So SHAME on the NFL Players union for not sticking up for the proven commodity. Yes some of these veterans are over valued and some of them should be sent out to pasture. But a Draft pick should never, ever, be on the top of the payroll food chain!

What have they done to earn these ridiculous signing bonuses? Proved they can compete against inferior athletes at the collegiate level is all they have proven. At best they display the potential to play at the next level.

So just like in any industry, your salary will bear out your progress when your Rookie contract runs its course.

If the snot nosed 15 year old is worth it, he will get a raise. Business 101.

Seriously though why has this not taken place years ago?

By Andy Natalie
ProFootball-fans.com Staff Writer