NFLPA president making a public push to make a MASSIVE change in players' contracts

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Vince Carbonneau
April 12, 2022 (11:50)

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JC Tretter, NFL player associations president, used his Twitter platform to make a public push for a reform in players' contracts.

Here is what he tweeted out this morning:

Did you know guaranteed contracts are not included in the CBA (Collective Bargaining Agreement) for any sport? But, we can make them the norm across the NFL. Here's how, based on what we can learn from the other major sports leagues.https://nflpa.com/posts/setting-a-new-standard-for-guaranteed-contracts

The link he posted is an article pushing for immediate change in players' deals. Essentially, he wants the contracts to ideally become fully guaranteed for the players. He used the example of the new Deshaun Watson's contract with the Cleveland Browns. (It was a 5-years, $230 million, fully guaranteed)

We may have hit a turning point with the Cleveland Browns and Deshaun Watson. For years, clubs have told agents that a main reason for not guaranteeing contracts was the «funding rule» � an archaic league rule that says teams must put into escrow an amount of money equal to what they are guaranteeing a player in any contract beyond the first year.

Thanks to Jimmy Haslem and Andrew Berry of the Browns for doing what other NFL owners and executives have mostly been unwilling to do, despite comments and reports of other NFL owners bemoaning the move. We once again have proof that the funding rule is an artificial barrier to guaranteed money, and credit to David Mulugheta, Watson's agent, for working with our union to push past it.

I think Tretter makes a great point. I'm sure the old-school fans will not like this idea and say that "In the 70s, players were paid 100k per year and never complained". Well, guess what? We're not in the 70s anymore.

The owners are already worth billions and billions and they are not putting their bodies and even their health on the line every Sunday during the season. I understand that for the starting Qbs or the superstar WRs that earn over $20 million annually, this rule is not important. However, the NFL career average length is only about 3.3 years. For most players, getting as much money as they can is crucial during their very short career.

I stand behind Tretter 100% on this point.

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