Detmersdislocatedshoulder said:
to me there is something wrong when guys get paid more in college than pro ball which is absolutely happening in some cases. i don't fault the kid for taking it but damn that's pretty insane.
put another way. there are a double digit number of college quarterbacks making more money than Brock Purdy who will be starting in the super bowl.
You should look at it through the lense of ownership in the NFL being able to suppress the talents' market value through a salary cap. Sure it was negotiated, but it artificially prevents the players being paid their worth unlike college at the moment.
Also distorting the numbers are the lockstep rookie wage scale (hilariously cutting off rookie pay at the knees following the Sam Bradford draft by the vets in a collective bargaining agreement wherein they agreed with ownership that they'd get a bigger piece of the pie and future rookie players not present at the bargaining table much less)* and years of servitude before the players get their first FA contract.
It's not so much the college players' pay is out of proportion as the NFL players' pay is. Purdy on the open market commands $20 million plus or more I imagine.
If the NFL had a luxury tax instead of a hard cap you'd see things like the Mets with a 2023 payroll over $350 million and almost seven times the amount of Oakland's.
We'll see if the colleges can pull off the NFL model and prevent the players from being paid market value.
* Bradford's contract in 2010 for the No. 1 pick was for $78 million (50 guaranteed) for six years, while Young's contract in 2023 for the No. 1 pick was for $38 million for 4 years with a fifth year team option to lock him in if he over-performs the rookie wage. Less AAV, less overall $, less risk in guaranteed money and years, all a decade and a half on.
