so that means THIS is castle's year?

ROFL

My thoughts exactly. They're pissing their pants. The first round cash cow's going away.

So will they (the owners) just give bigger signing bonuses than they do now to Rookies? I can't remember if a bonus counts against cap or not.

Since the average career is about 3 years, 3 years on the initial contract is more than reasonable.

If average careers are less than the contract length then they are busts and don't deserve the big money.

Easy money. The bar is already set, so negotiating isn't very tough.

Does it seem a little weird to anyone else that the only people that don't have a say in the rookie wage scale are the, uh, rookies?

Nope.

You made different choices, and they're inapplicable to the world of professional sports.

WTF are you talking about? They're getting the money in the NFL, and you're the one bitching for change, not them.

Deserve has nothing to do with it. They're getting paid based upon potential, just like everyone else is in a first job. The difference is that they can't choose where to apply and work, while pretty much everyone else can. Given that the biggest losers in this scenario would be the top players in the first round, it's pretty clear that they'd have been able to shop their services in a free system.

I don't know what job you are in but first jobs typically don't pay top dollar for potential.

You work your way up. Your whole argument is flawed.

Go check out what first jobs for top end graduates pay. The average starting salary for a Harvard Law Graduate in 2008, for example, was about $155,000.

http://www.law.harvard.edu/current/sfs/index.html

Harvard Law vs NFL rookie? If you want to compare go ahead.

What do you think that $155,000 a year compares to a graduate from Harvard Law in their prime? Half or a 3rd of their annual salary and probably not even that.

Great example to make my point.

Not really, given that professional athletes are basically at the pinnacle of the salary world. You seem to be trying to equate NFL players to factory workers, and you're also overlooking the fact that there's already a rookie cap in the NFL.

Also, Peyton Manning and Brady, among others, will be making more money than Sam Bradford, so your progression argument is really a non-starter.

Look I am not the one who used starting salaries of Harvard Law graduates, you did. And compaired to their field which is relevent, they don't make the big money compared to experienced equals do out of college.

Harvard Law is elite. The NFL is elite. The comparison applies.

You aprovided the example not me. No sure where your factory worker comment applies.

I am not saying rookies shouldn't be paid well, they should not be top of their proffession straight out of school before ever playing an NFL game.

To use your example, an attorney straight out of school wont be the top paid Guy in court making more than the judge 99% of the time.

That's pretty logical.