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Basically the players want to make a cut of what the team makes, so whatever the team profits is divided among the players. I'm not sure on the exact percentage right now, I think its around 50%? I assume they take an average of what all the teams make or something, since some teams make more than others but they all have the same salary cap.
So when the next CBA comes up, the NFLPA is gonna be pushing for a larger percentage, while the owners obviously are not. So that is going to lead to a strike I think, the rookie contract thing really can't lead to a strike since there isn't a president for a rookies contract. It is not like a team HAS (like required by the CBA set by the owners/NFLPA) to pay huge money to guys and the rookie numbers are inflated anyways. Hardly any of these rookies will see the money which they signed for. What you need to look at is the signing bonus and the first year salary, since those are the only amounts which are guarented to go to the player. Rookies who aren't first rounders kinda get screwed tho, since they sign pretty low 5 year contracts, so if the rookie ends up being really good, the team has their rights for low money for those 5 years. If you end up sucking tho the team can just cut you with no problems, so you got guys like Deion Branch barely making 1 million dollars in his 5th year because of that.
The rookie contract thing isn't really that big of a deal, it happens every year, you got like 10 or so guys coming out and getting a huge signing bonus and thats that. Pretty sure with guys like Vernon Davis (or more likely their agents - I am sure every agent wants to be able to say they worked a rookie into getting the highest contract at their position) they just want to be called the highest paid tight end in the NFL, I highly doubt when the dust clears that he wil end up making more than somebody like Gates or Heap
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