hmmm. What is lost in all of this is why would owners care if large, guaranteed contracts are given out? They have a salary cap. If they fail like many do, it only hurts teams who signed them like the dumb Browns. Teams are free to do as they wish.
With salary cap. It is in non-winning teams best interest that winning teams sign the big ticket "make a difference" players to huge, guaranteed contracts so it hampers their ability to put together a better roster.(and actually if they sign a bad player to a big guaranteed deal that is even better lol) Thereby giving the lesser teams a better chance to compete to acquire good players. (as a Bills fan i was rooting for Chiefs, Fish, Ravens, etc etc, to all sign their QB's to ridiculous large deals lol)
I get in the short term when one of your players deserves the big raise big guaranteed deal, your team will now be in the same boat and have tough negotiations. But that's life. Then the lesser teams get the good players and the window for teams to be super bowl contenders will be shifted to other teams until your turn comes around again. Really how this should work so the same teams don't always win.
edit: and i forgot that by giving out these huge, guaranteed deals it lowers the money available for veterans on that roster as the big, guaranteed contract takes up too much cap space. Teams then need to fill out roster with draftees, UDFA's, younger cheaper players thereby lowering veteran players income. NFL addressed this somewhat by exempting some of certain veterans' salaries against the cap.