As some may have seen, @speculadora recently wrote up a piece about his view on several issues he has with out current contract system. You can find it here if you are so inclined. It's a wonderfully thought provoking piece form someone who has been intimately involved in making the exact sort of decisions he wishes to see no longer be options, as he points out. There is no one more zealous than the reformed sinner after all.
Two of these measures I fully agree with. The contract scaling being brought into balance with a simple half million added to the minimum of every bracket after the second is particularly good. Taking away the DSFL pay after the player's second season is also a great idea, though I am aware that the situation of developing Quarterbacks would play into it. Beyond that this measure would have to contend with the growing mindset that DSFL ought to be normalized as a 2-3 year stint. More dauntingly, it would also have to deal with those who artificially created that mindset to try to pretend into existence a DSFL that is a long term world instead of the short term program that it is. Beyond them you'd hear a clattering from those among the DSFL GMs who say things like "I'm sorry we're looking for a long term solution at that position" because they don't understand the most kindergarten level tenants of their job. It would be a rough hill to climb without some degree of compromising of the ideal, I think. I'd love to see it tried without interference from the parties that dislike or have forgotten that the D stands for developmental and that it refers to players.
Now this is the point wherein we diverge. Speculadora has suggested two additional measures that I simply cannot support. The first is reducing the normal DSFL salary of recreated form $5 Million to $4 Million because.....we should. We haven't blatantly stripped recreates of anything in a while so perhaps it's simply that. As it stands, recreates already lose out on actual TPE and a small bit of money via the rookie tasks. Beyond that, a series of rules through the league's history has removed any semblance of TPE based advantage a recreate could have gotten, restricted when a recreate can utilize the money advantage that is always argued as being the heart of all these rules. And woe to you, recreate who isn't rich to start with. We as a league have spent nearly 3 years making sure you know that we do not give a solitary flying fuck about you. We stand in a world where it is entirely and intentionally set up so that a new player is simply and undeniably capable of earning more TPE in a career than a recreate is. Why lower a recreate's DSFL pay after all that? At some point, you have to put down the stick, wipe the blood from your hands, and bury the horse.
The second proposition I take issue with is the standardizing of rookie contracts. Doing so would be an absolute Godawful move. Rookies as it is have hardly any leverage whatsoever. It is extremely difficult for any rookie to really come in and speak for themselves in terms of signing to the team that already singlehandedly chose them and spent two weeks deciding their fate before said rookie even gets to find out what team holds their rights. A team who can literally punish them for not signing a contract by restricting the TPE they are allowed to earn as per league rules. This measure would remove one of two rights a rookie has left and the second one is simply retiring. Actually, nevermind. The team would still have the right to play the retired player that season so even that one is a bit questionable. Regardless, character suicide should not be the only choice a player has if they are in a position they dislike being in. Rookie players really have no one to speak on their behalf either. From the moment they're publicly drafted the amount of people they can actually talk to about their options basically disappears. In theory they have agents (it's own quagmire) but even that slim tether would be cut by this idea. Player rights should not be essentially decapitated by the practices of GMs who view loopholes the way rabbits in heat view each other.
I firmly believe that if the league were to adopt the first two policies suggested and outlined, we would actually see growth in player rights, parity, free agency, and budget balancing. I also firmly believe that the league benefits in this same vein by taking measures now to stop the ensuing onslaught of shady contracts meant to get around the presumed future expansion draft. I have proposed my own suggestion on this regard to HO and I know a few others have as well. Nipping this nonsense in the bud now will benefit the league greatly and avoid a future of sham free agents signing right back with their teams after specifically constructing contracts to protect the team from the expansion draft.
Player rights
Fair play
Develop players
-AdamS
Two of these measures I fully agree with. The contract scaling being brought into balance with a simple half million added to the minimum of every bracket after the second is particularly good. Taking away the DSFL pay after the player's second season is also a great idea, though I am aware that the situation of developing Quarterbacks would play into it. Beyond that this measure would have to contend with the growing mindset that DSFL ought to be normalized as a 2-3 year stint. More dauntingly, it would also have to deal with those who artificially created that mindset to try to pretend into existence a DSFL that is a long term world instead of the short term program that it is. Beyond them you'd hear a clattering from those among the DSFL GMs who say things like "I'm sorry we're looking for a long term solution at that position" because they don't understand the most kindergarten level tenants of their job. It would be a rough hill to climb without some degree of compromising of the ideal, I think. I'd love to see it tried without interference from the parties that dislike or have forgotten that the D stands for developmental and that it refers to players.
Now this is the point wherein we diverge. Speculadora has suggested two additional measures that I simply cannot support. The first is reducing the normal DSFL salary of recreated form $5 Million to $4 Million because.....we should. We haven't blatantly stripped recreates of anything in a while so perhaps it's simply that. As it stands, recreates already lose out on actual TPE and a small bit of money via the rookie tasks. Beyond that, a series of rules through the league's history has removed any semblance of TPE based advantage a recreate could have gotten, restricted when a recreate can utilize the money advantage that is always argued as being the heart of all these rules. And woe to you, recreate who isn't rich to start with. We as a league have spent nearly 3 years making sure you know that we do not give a solitary flying fuck about you. We stand in a world where it is entirely and intentionally set up so that a new player is simply and undeniably capable of earning more TPE in a career than a recreate is. Why lower a recreate's DSFL pay after all that? At some point, you have to put down the stick, wipe the blood from your hands, and bury the horse.
The second proposition I take issue with is the standardizing of rookie contracts. Doing so would be an absolute Godawful move. Rookies as it is have hardly any leverage whatsoever. It is extremely difficult for any rookie to really come in and speak for themselves in terms of signing to the team that already singlehandedly chose them and spent two weeks deciding their fate before said rookie even gets to find out what team holds their rights. A team who can literally punish them for not signing a contract by restricting the TPE they are allowed to earn as per league rules. This measure would remove one of two rights a rookie has left and the second one is simply retiring. Actually, nevermind. The team would still have the right to play the retired player that season so even that one is a bit questionable. Regardless, character suicide should not be the only choice a player has if they are in a position they dislike being in. Rookie players really have no one to speak on their behalf either. From the moment they're publicly drafted the amount of people they can actually talk to about their options basically disappears. In theory they have agents (it's own quagmire) but even that slim tether would be cut by this idea. Player rights should not be essentially decapitated by the practices of GMs who view loopholes the way rabbits in heat view each other.
I firmly believe that if the league were to adopt the first two policies suggested and outlined, we would actually see growth in player rights, parity, free agency, and budget balancing. I also firmly believe that the league benefits in this same vein by taking measures now to stop the ensuing onslaught of shady contracts meant to get around the presumed future expansion draft. I have proposed my own suggestion on this regard to HO and I know a few others have as well. Nipping this nonsense in the bud now will benefit the league greatly and avoid a future of sham free agents signing right back with their teams after specifically constructing contracts to protect the team from the expansion draft.
Player rights
Fair play
Develop players
-AdamS