Every year the 32 owners in the National Football League get together and tweak the rulebook in March. This year many a column inch and hack joke was made about the addendum to the catch rule, but there are plenty of rules outside the field of play that need updating thanks to the changing nature of the NFL.
Here are five ideas that would immediately improve the game.
1. Quarterbacks should be exempt from the collective bargaining practice rules
The new practice rules in the last collective bargaining agreement were put in place to protect players from stupid (and mostly old) coaches who were going to “do it the old fashioned way.” While constant, full-bore practices might have worked back in the 1950s when every player showed up in the preseason fat and smoking three packs a day, the modern elite athlete can be outright destroyed by such a regime.
Even then, nobody was running their quarterbacks into the ground. Make no mistake, we’re in the best era of quarterbacking in NFL history with at least 22 legitimate franchise guys currently tossing passes in the NFL. But the goal has to be 32 (or more, frankly, considering injuries. Look at what the Philadelphia Eagles were able to do thanks to two starting level QBs on the roster last season). Jon Gruden outlined the problem with the collective bargaining rules and QB development. Not every guy coming in is going to be a Day One starter. They need the work. I would guess they want the work. The NFL should allow it.
2. Teams should be able to designate an in-season franchise player whose contract only counts 50 percent against the cap
We’re about to get into some NBA-level salary cap nuttiness, but stick with me. It’s for the betterment of the league. Since we were already discussing QBs, there’s no reason to move off that topic. The NFL salary cap in 2018 will be around $177.2 million. Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan just recently signed the richest contract extension in NFL history that will pay him $30 million a season. That means that Ryan alone is eating up nearly 17 percent of the Falcons cap. This is a team with other star players that will need to get paid in order to stay with the team. Atlanta most certainly wants to keep them, but Ryan’s contract might keep that from happening.
Aaron Rodgers will be among the most underpaid players in the league AFTER he gets his new contract, making him the highest paid player in NFL history
— Kevin Lachance (@klachance_5) June 26, 2018
And it shouldn’t. Under this new rule, a team can designate one player’s contract per season a “franchise” contract, meaning it only counts 50 percent against the cap. How much more flexibility would the Falcons have, not only signing up their current players, but adding free agents if they were only counting $15 million of Ryan’s contract against the cap? He’d still be making $30 million and Atlanta would still be coughing up the dough, but the Falcons could continue to keep talented players around him.
And, sure, that might not seem fair for teams without a Matt Ryan, but every team wants a Matt Ryan. Quarterback contracts are already their own thing. If we discuss them outside of other QB deals, it’s using phrases like “Aaron Donald wants to be the highest paid non quarterback.” Donald is, legitimately and scientifically (according to Pro Football Focus) better at his position than any other player, QB included, is at his position in the NFL and he’s not even in the real quarterback money conversation. Ryan (and Aaron Rodgers and Matthew Stafford and Drew Brees, etc…) are worth every penny. If you don’t have a QB in the NFL, you might as well not have a team. But we’re punishing teams that drafted or brought in the right guys by shedding players they don’t want to lose.
You could combine the current average annual salary of all the following players (per Over the Cap) and still not reach the $30 million per year in Matt Ryan's contract: pic.twitter.com/kfULxWZrey
— NFL+ (@NFLPlus) May 17, 2018
The biggest hang up in Donald’s new contract with the Los Angeles Rams right now is the fact that they’re going to have to shell out $22-plus million to Jared Goff in two years and they have to fit both men under the cap.
To be continued in Part 2.
