The Draft and the CBA

[flutie2phelan]

Something to muse on, in case you missed Pasquarelli's and Clayton's FAQ on the Big Brouhaha:
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2351462

How does all of this affect the 2006 NFL draft?
Signing draft choices will be more difficult this year, because teams can prorate signing bonuses over only four seasons. Already, agents figure the most a top draft choice can make under that scenario is $15 million, a major reduction from recent years. That likely will lead to long holdouts by draft choices.

What are the long-term ramifications for the league?
Barring a new CBA, the players either will be on strike or the owners will lock out the players in 2008. The union likely will decertify, and antitrust rules will apply. Also, the NFL draft will go away in 2008 as part of a clause inserted in the current CBA. Players coming out of college could be free agents, with no salary restrictions. Open negotiations, including those for rookies coming out of college, will leave it to the players to get what they can get.

Wouldn't it be fun if a quorum of 2008's draft-eligibles ... put up a website, where all offers they receive were posted? Open-outcry auction would be good for them ... and a delight for fandom. Perhaps even the league would encourage it ... as a way of maintaining interest in their product before they or the PA ****cans the season of '08.

 

[flutie2phelan]

Thursday evening, profootballtalk.com outdid itself ... and outdid many another site, i wager ... with boatloads of useful and/or interesting info and interpretation of the current imbroglio. (Including reporting a brand-new deal Clinton Portis signed with the NativeNations ... which is contingent on no new CBA deal being done!) [That's Redskins, to all but the NCAA]

Of special interest to draftniks ... and documenting the post above a bit ... is this edited extract:

DRAFT THE NEXT THING TO GET SCREWED UP

While all of the focus of the potential CBA fallout has been on its effects as to free agency, the next nightmare looming on the horizon is the draft.

Even for teams with plenty of salary cap room, contracts for draft picks (specifically in the first round) will present a unique set of challenges. The devices that have been used of late to help funnel more money to high-end rookies without running afoul of the rookie pool and the salary cap won't necessarily work.

For example, we've heard that one team has determined that the first year of the rookie contract signed by receiver Braylon Edwards, the third pick in the 2005 draft, would consume more than $9 million in cap space if done in 2006.

As a result of the challenges relating to signing first-rounders in 2006, some league insiders believe that all players drafted in rounds two through six could receive the one-year minimum tender on a take-it-or-leave-it basis.

This would trigger unprecedented holdouts, and some players likely would opt to sit out 2006 and re-enter the draft in 2007, which either will have a new CBA in place or will be completely uncapped.

....