Miami Dolphins’ savior, first round pick from Michigan JAKE LONG is being rumored to be the NFL’s anti-christ. The talk is that the first pick requires so much money in a guaranteed signing bonus that if he turns into a bust it will bankrupt the team that signed him.
I don’t believe that shit for a minute…
The NFL has a gaggle of sponsors who clamber over one another to be seen on game day as the “official” so and so of the league. Last season, the NFL made billions for itself on the whole, and then generated trillions of dollars in consumerism. The money to pay these players is certainly available, but the greedy franchise owners don’t want to bite into their mega-profit margins.
Think for a second about the billions of dollars in ad revenue that was accrued from the Super Bowl this year (I say billions because the 2006 contest totaled $1.59B in ad money). This league is making ridiculous money and they only have a season where they play one tenth the number of games they do in baseball. NFL owners need to respect these draft picks and pay them their money.
Its not like the owners give a shit about the veterans who are physically decrepit from years of running into other people at full speed, and mentally unstable from years of taking lord-knows-what painkillers and pills.
As a former O-Lineman (and Left Tackle at that), I love it when the grossly underrated but ever important dude in the trenches gets that kind of major respect that is achieved by being the #1 overall. Shout out to Jake Long…
It only makes sense that if you are going to invest millions in someone to throw the football you better pony up some coin to the man that watches his back and protects your multi-million dollar investment.
Plus, bigtime OL are rarely busts. Word to even Tony Boselli
What I’m not down with is a rookie coming into the league and becoming the highest paid player at his position. As strong as the NFLPA is, that shit makes absolutely no sense at all.
This offseason is going to be the first domino for the NFL’s eventual downward slide. Too many monstrous contracts with record guarantees are not going to pan out well in a sport that has so many injuries.
Yeah but who he is he going to be protecting?
on top of all that, wayne huizenga is not going to let that become the failure of all draft picks.
hopefully with the changing of the guard in the dolphins organization, like the tuna running things and tony sparano getting a chance, us Dolfans might see a return to run dominating offense.
dallas, what’s up?
very bad teams become very good teams very quickly in today’s NFL.
Left tackle and right DE are the real franchise positions.
St. Louis – Orlando Pace (Ohio State)
Indianapolis – Tarik Glenn (Cal)
Baltimore – Jonathan Ogden (UCLA)
All Super Bowl Champs, all who drafted a premiere bookend LT as a top 10 pick. That reversal of fortune isn’t a cowinkydink…
To Evan’s point – the salary cap has gone up significantly in the last 3-4 years (practically doubling) as a result of the NFL’s overall profitability, the rookie scale will sort itself out at new contracts are doled out under the newer financial structure. Concerns such as yours are often voiced when the financial structure changes. But truth be told the NFL is the most solid pro league in sports, and Goodell is not gonna rest on his laurels so I feel the league will be more than safe.
PS – as a Jet fan I’m hoping the drafting of LI’s own Brick Ferguson will help add to that list!!!
Freeport’s own D’Brickashaw!
From your people at Arthur Ave!
Wow Dallas??? Are you still with DDC? And Harvey? NYC’s black Chuck Norris!
Damn, Dallas…excellent post! That last paragraph was on point like icy nipples! All you have to do is look at legends like Earl Campbell and Hershel Walker, and realize just how greasy the league is. They only sling a couple of pennies at the players who the league built it’s billions on the backs of. Great post!
The real deal is when you look at the salary of dudes making league minimum. That shit might not be worth playing.