sonnyboy
Benched
- Messages
- 7,357
- Reaction score
- 0
I'll try this again since my last debate thread went over like a lead zeppelin with only one response. Undaunted I will forge ahead with debate thread two.
The NFL is a better league since FA started in 1993. And here's why...
1) Hold Outs have gone the way of the dinosaur. Do you guys remember how many holdouts the average team would have to deal with each camp. These holdouts reduced the quality of play.
The reasons behind these holdouts were many and deep seeded. One problem was less revenue sharing and no salary cap. You'd have SF with twice the payroll as some of the smaller market teams. Another problem was the system made no sense. Free market forces would set pay scales at one level in the mind of the player and his agent and on the other side you had the team with too much bargining power, attempting to keep salaries down.
Another screwed up part of ths system was the draft. If you remember the method of slotting players according to draft position was similar to todays method. The problem was with no FA this system had a hard time catching up to the actual value of the player.
Two perfect player examples of the inequity of this system. D. Noonan and Seth Joyner. Two players drafted just about the same time. Noonan was a 1st rd pk who obviously started at the high end of the pay scale. He was a below average player barely holding on to his job. When his rookie deal expired, what happened? He gets a pay raise. Why? Because of the players union and that antiquated system. The only way Dallas could maintain thier exclusive rights to Noonan was to offer him a raise.
The flip side of that is Joyner. He's a late rd pk making peanuts to start. Well he tears it up from day one. Think he made the probowl in year 2. What does Joyner get for his effort. An annual fight with the eagles to get paid as a probowl player. Holdout after holdout, one year deal after one year deal.
The money these two players earned in the NFL had more to do with expectations of how they may play than what they did.
2) Quality of play and team continuity - One of the myths that has been endlessly propagated is the reduced quality of play due to player movement.
Garbage! Totally untrue.
This concern at the start of FA lead to the expansion of the off-season programs.
I cant back up this claim with stats. However, I believe players today spend more time in mini camps and training camps with thier teams then pre-FA.
Its obvious. With no Holdouts and expanded off season programs... add to that the fact that good players in the top third of the roster dont change teams that often.
There is no doubt in my mind that todays players spend more time practicing than thier predecesors.
I'd bet DeMarcus Ware has spent more offseason time practicing in his first 3 years than Seth Joyner did in 10.
The NFL is a better league since FA started in 1993. And here's why...
1) Hold Outs have gone the way of the dinosaur. Do you guys remember how many holdouts the average team would have to deal with each camp. These holdouts reduced the quality of play.
The reasons behind these holdouts were many and deep seeded. One problem was less revenue sharing and no salary cap. You'd have SF with twice the payroll as some of the smaller market teams. Another problem was the system made no sense. Free market forces would set pay scales at one level in the mind of the player and his agent and on the other side you had the team with too much bargining power, attempting to keep salaries down.
Another screwed up part of ths system was the draft. If you remember the method of slotting players according to draft position was similar to todays method. The problem was with no FA this system had a hard time catching up to the actual value of the player.
Two perfect player examples of the inequity of this system. D. Noonan and Seth Joyner. Two players drafted just about the same time. Noonan was a 1st rd pk who obviously started at the high end of the pay scale. He was a below average player barely holding on to his job. When his rookie deal expired, what happened? He gets a pay raise. Why? Because of the players union and that antiquated system. The only way Dallas could maintain thier exclusive rights to Noonan was to offer him a raise.
The flip side of that is Joyner. He's a late rd pk making peanuts to start. Well he tears it up from day one. Think he made the probowl in year 2. What does Joyner get for his effort. An annual fight with the eagles to get paid as a probowl player. Holdout after holdout, one year deal after one year deal.
The money these two players earned in the NFL had more to do with expectations of how they may play than what they did.
2) Quality of play and team continuity - One of the myths that has been endlessly propagated is the reduced quality of play due to player movement.
Garbage! Totally untrue.
This concern at the start of FA lead to the expansion of the off-season programs.
I cant back up this claim with stats. However, I believe players today spend more time in mini camps and training camps with thier teams then pre-FA.
Its obvious. With no Holdouts and expanded off season programs... add to that the fact that good players in the top third of the roster dont change teams that often.
There is no doubt in my mind that todays players spend more time practicing than thier predecesors.
I'd bet DeMarcus Ware has spent more offseason time practicing in his first 3 years than Seth Joyner did in 10.
