Whatever happened to the ol' holdout?

[Harlan Huckleby]

How come players always sign contracts before training camps?

[TravisWilliams23]

I guess they end up realizing that being "disrespected" for x-million isn't so
bad after all!

[run pMc]

holdouts = injuries and acrimony from fans?

[Guiness]

You talking about rookie holdouts or veterans looking for new contracts? Very different animals.

Rookie holdouts never did make any sense, and the new CBA makes them pointless, it's one of the things I think they got right.

The way things work for veterans is entirely different, and there are also few holdouts, but for a different reason - the new fine structure makes them prohibitive to the player.

[3irty1]

The time when holdouts made the most sense is with UDFA or late rounders who turned out to be very good early in their career. If those guys don't hold out they might never see a payday.

[pbmax]

You talking about rookie holdouts or veterans looking for new contracts? Very different animals.

Rookie holdouts never did make any sense, and the new CBA makes them pointless, it's one of the things I think they got right.

The way things work for veterans is entirely different, and there are also few holdouts, but for a different reason - the new fine structure makes them prohibitive to the player.

Actually, rookie holdouts under the old system made a lot of sense. In fact, you could say rookie holdouts under the old system are what caused everyone to agree they needed a new system.

[Guiness]

Actually, rookie holdouts under the old system made a lot of sense. In fact, you could say rookie holdouts under the old system are what caused everyone to agree they needed a new system.

Made sense to the rookie, yes, but made a mess of everything else. The holdouts and ridiculous pay structure, with first round (or at least, top half of the first round) pics getting a disproportionate amount of the cap, is why everyone agreed it should be changed.

The time when holdouts made the most sense is with UDFA or late rounders who turned out to be very good early in their career. If those guys don't hold out they might never see a payday.

And I still don't think that's fixed, and is probably worse now than it was. If a team wants to play hardball, the fines could potentially eat up a UDFA's salary in a hurry if he decided to hold out during his rookie contract.

[MadScientist]

Made sense to the rookie, yes, but made a mess of everything else. The holdouts and ridiculous pay structure, with first round (or at least, top half of the first round) pics getting a disproportionate amount of the cap, is why everyone agreed it should be changed.

Yep. Serendipity also helped. The slot values weren't supposed to be made public, but one team handed it to an agent, and suddenly everybody signed for slot, fast. After finding out how easy that made things, they started doing it every year.

And I still don't think that's fixed, and is probably worse now than it was. If a team wants to play hardball, the fines could potentially eat up a UDFA's salary in a hurry if he decided to hold out during his rookie contract.

It's even worse than that, teams can't even redo a contract if they want to, if there is more than a year left on it. That's why Russel Wilson hasn't done anything about his contract. Under the old CBA, no way would still be playing for a 3rd round rookie contract.

[Guiness]

Yep. Serendipity also helped. The slot values weren't supposed to be made public, but one team handed it to an agent, and suddenly everybody signed for slot, fast. After finding out how easy that made things, they started doing it every year.

What? Transparency helped things be understood and move ahead?
Shocking. Shocking I tell you!

[Harlan Huckleby]

Rookie holdouts never did make any sense, and the new CBA makes them pointless, it's one of the things I think they got right.

The way things work for veterans is entirely different, and there are also few holdouts, but for a different reason - the new fine structure makes them prohibitive to the player.

I kinda like the rookie salary caps.

I don't know the details of all this. It does seem odd that the NFL can have such a hammer-hold on the veteran players.

I know NFL players are poorly paid by the standards of MLB and NBA. True, there are a lot more players, but the NFL pie is also bigger.

I wish the borderline players, the Johnny Jolly's of this world, would earn bigger nest eggs. The minimum salaries should be bigger. Maybe the player's union is more concerned about established players?

[George Cumby]

I love the rookie salary cap. Minimizes the drama and shenanigans before minicamps, etc.

[Guiness]

I kinda like the rookie salary caps.

I don't know the details of all this. It does seem odd that the NFL can have such a hammer-hold on the veteran players.

I know NFL players are poorly paid by the standards of MLB and NBA. True, there are a lot more players, but the NFL pie is also bigger.

I wish the borderline players, the Johnny Jolly's of this world, would earn bigger nest eggs. The minimum salaries should be bigger. Maybe the player's union is more concerned about established players?

I agree (damit, I'm going to earn myself a 24h ban here ) with everything you say there. I'd say the biggest problem, and an unintended effect of the last CBA, is that the superstars get such a disproportionate portion piece of the pie. Rodgers earns $20M, Cobb, who happens to lead the league in TD catches, makes less than 1/20th of that. If he makes it through this season healthy, he'll get more, but not necessarily 'set for life' more. And he'll be better off than a lot of guys who hang around the league for 7-8 years, but hang around the league minimum.

With what we're learning about life after football for a lot of these guys, I'm starting to think 'set for life' is where they should be. I'd be in favour of something that doubles the minimum wage, even if the total cap stays the same. Not sure how popular that would be with the elite players in the league.

Picking a team at random, NO, I looked at the top few cap numbers before a drop-off was seen. With them, it was the top 4:

Drew Brees		$18,400,000		
Jahri Evans		$11,000,000		
Ben Grubbs		$9,100,000		
Marques Colston		$8,300,000
Total:                  $46,800,000

Next guy on the list is Lofton at $5.2M
source: http://overthecap.com/salary-cap/new-orleans-saints

With a cap of 133M, that's 35%, over a third of the cap on 4 players out of 53 (probably a few more if you count IR)