bobobonators

Well said, especially when this is the first couple of series of the preseason and people are already lambasting players and bringing absolutely nothing but negativity to the board. Nobody wants to read that nonsense. Nobody.

You don't get it. You clearly don't. Algebra has absolutely nothing to do with Law. Nothing. But you know what? You need a damn college degree in order to apply to law school. And you know what, you need to know algebra in order to obtain a college degree. Go complain about it how it's not fair. We all know it's not "fair" but we suck it the hell up and go through with it, you know why? Bc we want to reach that goal. If we didn't want to reach that goal, we would drop out. The NFL is a PRIVATE EMPLOYER. The NFL can say they want you to stand on one foot for half an hour while chewing gum and reciting the alphabet backwards before you're eligible for hire. And you know what? THEY CAN DO THAT. If you don't want to jump through that hoop, then you shouldn't apply to the NFL. The NFL wants their employees to attend college for a few years before they can apply. They have every right to request that.

Right.

Do you even realize what you're arguing? Everyone should argue the following then: Why do we need to go to college in order to join the workforce? It's all a scam. Screw it I'm revolting. It's not fair. Who the heck cares if you're good at football? Playing football isn't a right in life, it's a privilege. If you want that privilege, you jump through the hoops. What's so difficult to understand about that? We aren't arguing about basic human rights here. We're arguing about the opportunity to play for the NFL - a private entity. If you're really good at football and don't want to jump through their hoops, go play for the CFL then. Or go play on some 3rd rate team in Germany somewhere.

Hold on now Dave, you're arguing so many different things we need to focus here. 1. Working conditions? College players aren't in the NFL yet so they can't complain about working conditions. And like I said before, they can't really complain about "working" in college since the very college they're going to is giving them a free ride AS IS. In addition to countless other perks that the average college student doesn't receive. 2. Career path requirements? You know the requirements of the career you want to pursue (NFL) since the day you are born. Much the same way doctors, lawyers, engineers know the requirements of their career well in advance. What is their to complain about? You either accept it, or choose a different career if you can't deal with it. Geeze man. Tens of thousands of players have managed to go to college and then go to the NFL over the past 100yrs. Rosen isn't experiencing anything different than those other tens of thousands of individuals.

Says who exactly??? The NFL (you know, their potential employer) says otherwise. That's like me saying I'm really really really damn smart and I would make an awesome intel analyst for the USAF, but I can't pass their PT requirements b/c I'm fat and slow, I should still be able to join b/c damn it I'm smart. The NFL has their requirements for employment. Accept it or don't. But don't complain about it.

Do we need a college degree for anything really? We could internship at probably 95% of jobs for a few years and learn how to do that job without a degree. I could probably make a stronger argument that a High School kid needs more preparation/maturity/physical growth for the NFL than an 18yr old kid needs to go into marketing for example. Unfortunately or fortunately college is a means to an end for many things, whether it's deemed fair or not. It's a reality.

Listen, that's not my point. You can be extremely successful without going to college. I think you get my point, however.

And the point? That's like saying if you want a law degree you have to get a Bachelor's first. Or if you want to become a Doctor, you have to get a Bachelors first. If you want to pursue a law degree badly enough or an MD, you know this beforehand don't you? Deal with it, or you know what? Don't. Go work at your local pizza shop.

I have a couple of issues with Rosen's comments: 1. First and foremost, nobody is forcing you to play football AND got to college. It's your choice. If you feel you're up to it, do it. If you feel you can't handle it, then don't. That simple. Multiple people go to school Full time and work MULTIPLE part-time jobs and/or raise families. 2. Athletes like Rosen don't get enough help? You have a free ride to a top-tier university. That in and of itself is worth around $150,000 - $250,000. (This isn't even scratching the surface of all of the other perks they receive that aren't reported) 3. I went to a university that has a football program in the Big 10. To say that those athletes didn't get assistance in their academics is ludicrous. The athletes had tutors/assistants at their beck and call - they didn't need to seek out help like your average student, help was afforded to them without being sought out.

Who cares. I dont see the same publicity for health ailments suffered by coal miners who make 1/1000 the amount some of these players make.

Gronk started a whopping 6 games last season and was very ineffective for his standards. Edelman started one less game than Hogan and still had over 1,100 yds. Again, whats the argument here? Hogan joined arguably the best HC/QB combo in the history of the NFL, with an offensive syatem that is a well-oiled machine, and he put up 680 yards, 4tds. That put him at 61st in the NFL for receiving. He put up 450yds and 2 TD with the "lowly" tyrod on a run-first offense the year before. Take away the game Hogan had vs the Bills and Gilmore and Hogan finishes with almost identical numbers with the Pats.

Again. The greatest QB in the history of the game. And we want to compare his production in a pass happy offense to a run first offense with Ej and TT. Whats the point? That we need the GOAT to get 4tds out of Hogan? Is that the point?

The greatest QB to ever play this damn game. And chris hogan got 4td and 680yds with him. HOF.

The number of games is irrelevant. The revenue is generated in those 16 games. Plus playoffs.

Well said.

Koolaid? Im having a discussion about NFL players' worth and value relative to other athletes in american professional team sports and you're talking about single moms. Again, step away from the discussion if you cant even keep it on topic.

The single mom? If you cant have a conversation that's fundamentally rooted in reality, then remove yourself from the conversation.

I get what you're saying but the 84m dollar salary cap floor in a sport that generates revenue like the NFL is laughable, thats a large part of the problem. And the owners are the ones laughing all the way to the bank. When the only two beneficiaries of revenue can be players or owners, i dont see how a discussion regarding $ can be had without addressing the root problem.

Thank you.

Put aside your personal biasis and answer the following questions as objectively as possible: 1. Which of the 3 major team sports is the most physically demanding? 2. Which of the 3 major team sports generates the most revenue? 3. Which of the 3 major team sports pays its players the least in guaranteed money? NFL players have a right to be upset. But 100% of their anger should be directed at their predecessors for continuously dropping the ball in labor talks.

Amen brother. We the fans create the problem and then we the fans complain about it. The entire point of this thread was that NFL players are grossly underpaid when compared to their peers in the (team) sports entertainment industry, especially taking into account revenue generated by the league they play in. The point of this thread is not to compare players to what a package handler at UPS makes and thus call them greedy because they want more money. In the end, revenue generated in the NFL has one of two routes: players or owners. There isnt a fund set up to pay malnourished Ethiopian children from the money saved on "bad" contracts. And that money from "bad" contracts isnt always reinvested in the team. Half the league has tens of millions of dollars freed up in salary cap space. And thats based on a salary cap thats a joke relative to the revenue generated by the league.

Let me be as succinct as possible so people don't think i'm arguing the wrong point: 1. Yes, I feel that contracts should be guaranteed in the NFL. Money has to go somewhere folks. And it's either going to go to the players, or stay with the owners. Players. Or owners. Again, players, or owners. Increase the salary cap per team, force the owners to spend more money. Or remove the hard salary cap and implement another formula that benefits the players a bit more. 2. Haynewworth is an absolute extreme example. He's highly regarded as the single worst FA signing in NFL history. But lets think about that for a second. The single worst FA signing in NFL history and the Redskins were only out what 35 million? The mets are still paying bobby bonilla millions. 3. And yes, Haynesworth deserved a payday. In any sport he would get a payday for being regarded as the best at his position when he hit FA. And what was his pay day in the end for being the best at his position? 35 million? If that is how an NFL player gets rewarded as compared to other professional sports, the system is broken. Again, I realize he was a bust, but Haynesworth is an extreme example of FA gone bad. At the end of the day, however, I'd rather the player benefit from FA going bad than the owners pocketing the revenue money as they sit in their nice suits in their luxury suites when it's -20 on a snowy day in Green Bay and player X dislocates his freaking knee cap.

He was the defensive player of the year in 2008 before he signed that contract. He was one of the best defensive players in the league for a couple of years. That merits a payday. And my point is that his payday wasnt $100m (as it would be in nba or mlb), but more like $40m guaranteed. So no it wasnt better for everyone. The player performed at the top of his game in his sport and got compensated $40m basically which is peanuts in baseball for example. I think the redskins actually ended up paying him something like $35m and were able to get rid of him. He ended up being a bust so for the team not having to pay a guaranteed contract was certainly a win but not for the player. Im not saying that we need to go to the other extreme (which to me is baseball), but we need to be honest in this discussion: NFL players are getting the raw end of the deal when it comes to paydays in professional sports. Its undeniable.

But the redskins didnt pay Haynesworth $100m. Not even close. And how were they forced into anything? He was a FA.