Super Cubs 155 Posted July 30, 2006 Should there be a rookie salary cap? Not all great college players make great nfl players. The money thats being spent on "unproven talent" is really amazing. Should there be a rookie cap? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Vikings4ever 568 Posted July 30, 2006 There is a rookie cap. But it should be a hell of a lot smaller. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kilroy 0 Posted July 30, 2006 Should there be a rookie salary cap? Not all great college players make great nfl players. The money thats being spent on "unproven talent" is really amazing. Should there be a rookie cap? Actually, I believe there is an allotted amount of money teams have to spend on their draft picks each season. I think the number of picks you have, and which part of the draft you had them at determines what your "rookie cap" is. The problem is that I think the first year of a rookies contract is the only part that matters--the amount that will count against the teams cap for the year the player was drafted. That being the case, Reggie Bush can sign a 6-year, $60 milllion dollar deal, but his rookie salary could be far less than 10 million. Say his signing bonus is 24 million. That would then get dispersed over the length of the contract. So it averages out to 4 million a season against the cap. They then set his base salary for each season of the contract. This allows them to get under the rookie cap at a smaller price before watching his salary against the cap inflate (or deflate) over the years. Under this scenario, Bush's cap hit as a rookie would be that 4 million dollars, plus his base salary for the 2006 season. They can make his base salary something like $750,000 in 2006, before increasing it to something like $5.5 mil in 2007. For '06, his rookie cap hit would then be $4.75 million dollars before increasing to $9.5 million the following year. What they should consider is something along the lines of what the NBA does with rookies. I think they have a set barometer for the maximum length and sum of money a rookie's contract can be. The NBA actually caps the amount of money a rookies first deal can amount to. In the NFL, they simply cap the amount of money a team can afford to spend on all their rookies that first year in the league. Considering they reached agreement on a new CBA in the offseason, it's unlikely any changes as to how rookie contracts in the NFL work will come about anytime soon. I hate the NBA's cap structure, but they seem to be smart in limiting rookies deals. (I think they all receive 3 year deals, with a 4th year option. I'm not sure if the option belongs to the player or the team though and I'm not exactly sure on the sum of money they are limited to.) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
