Players salary and contract value

[Verdict]

I have never quite understood why players seem to pursue maximum value contracts in free agency or when resigning with the team they are on.

Peyton Manning always commanded such a large salary that it was very hard to assemble talent around him. Brady has consistently played for less than market value. Peyton has two rings. Brady has five.

Let's say that a player who plays for the Giants, Cowboys, has the option of signing for 12 million per year or go to Cleveland and make 15 million per year. That's a large difference but I would expect the endorsement options would be significantly greater in Dallas or New York than Cleveland, not to mention their chance of winning and quality of life would also come into play.

I guess players view salary as the main measuring stick of success. But does it matter if you make it on the field or the endorsements? Isn't money just money either way?

 

[negativecreep]

3,000,000 is a lot, and I wouldn't gamble on endorsement $$$. some players might be satisfied taking 12 over 15...but they have family's and other things that might be more important to take care of, besides getting a ring. That my opinion.

 

[Toruk_Makto]

I have never quite understood why players seem to pursue maximum value contracts in free agency or when resigning with the team they are on.

Peyton Manning always commanded such a large salary that it was very hard to assemble talent around him. Brady has consistently played for less than market value. Peyton has two rings. Brady has five.

Let's say that a player who plays for the Giants, Cowboys, has the option of signing for 12 million per year or go to Cleveland and make 15 million per year. That's a large difference but I would expect the endorsement options would be significantly greater in Dallas or New York than Cleveland, not to mention their chance of winning and quality of life would also come into play.

I guess players view salary as the main measuring stick of success. But does it matter if you make it on the field or the endorsements? Isn't money just money either way?

Salaries are predictable. Endorsements and on the field success are not. You be the judge why players care about salaries over endorsements and on the field success.

But did you really need a thread to highlight for you that people are influenced and incentizied by money?

 

[Hoofbite]

Quarterback Tom Brady signed a four-year extension with the New England Patriots that will make him the NFL's highest-paid player, a source close to the negotiations confirmed Thursday night.

Brady now among the NFL's highest-paid players
May 8, 2005

I think people forget that Brady is almost 40-years-old. One of the highest paid players as of 2005. The highest paid player as of 2010 at 33-years-old.

Has since signed a variety of extensions, the last being with $28M guaranteed to add just 2 years to his contract when he was going into the season at 39-years-old. There are now rumors that he could extend his current contract again.

To answer the question, players often pursue the highest contract because they aren't Tom Brady who can be amongst the highest paid players for a decade. Guarantees only go so far in the NFL and teams cut their losses every season. Injuries cut careers short. I'm sure many players would give more thought to whether or not they will be competing if you assured them a 20-year-career. They also aren't Tom Brady in the sense that they can't be one of the highest paid NFL players and marry someone who earns twice as much. Pretty easy to sacrifice a couple million dollars when your net worth is halfway to a billion dollars.

Brady would be an exception even if the claim that he has taken less than market value held up. Based on his contracts in his prime earning years, I think it's hard to make that case. If the Patriots are lucky with Brady, it's only because his longevity gave him enough prime earning years to make raw contract totals less appealing at an old age.

 

[DeaconMoss]

Tyrone Crawford signed a 5 year, $45,000,000 contract with the Dallas Cowboys, including a $10,000,000 signing bonus, $24,675,000 guaranteed, and an average annual salary of $9,000,000. In 2017, Crawford will earn a base salary of $7,250,000, while carrying a cap hit of $10,350,000 and a dead cap value of $17,650,000.

 

[Verdict]

The endorsement deals a player can get can far exceed their salary number. There is no cap on it. The point I am making is that that the guys who are the face of the franchise have an opportunity to make bank by doing endorsement deals. A smart player factors that in his decision making process.

 

[Verdict]

3,000,000 is a lot, and I wouldn't gamble on endorsement $$$. some players might be satisfied taking 12 over 15...but they have family's and other things that might be more important to take care of, besides getting a ring. That my opinion.

The three million dollars was an arbitrary number, but it is de minimus compared to what some of these guys get for endorsement income.

 

[robjay04]

I think people forget that Brady is almost 40-years-old. One of the highest paid players as of 2005. The highest paid player as of 2010 at 33-years-old.

Has since signed a variety of extensions, the last being with $28M guaranteed to add just 2 years to his contract when he was going into the season at 39-years-old. There are now rumors that he could extend his current contract again.

To answer the question, players often pursue the highest contract because they aren't Tom Brady who can be amongst the highest paid players for a decade. Guarantees only go so far in the NFL and teams cut their losses every season. Injuries cut careers short. I'm sure many players would give more thought to whether or not they will be competing if you assured them a 20-year-career. They also aren't Tom Brady in the sense that they can't be one of the highest paid NFL players and marry someone who earns twice as much. Pretty easy to sacrifice a couple million dollars when your net worth is halfway to a billion dollars.

Brady would be an exception even if the claim that he has taken less than market value held up. Based on his contracts in his prime earning years, I think it's hard to make that case. If the Patriots are lucky with Brady, it's only because his longevity gave him enough prime earning years to make raw contract totals less appealing at an old age.

Plus they don't have a hot model wife that is worth double their worth like Brady.

What a life...

 

[xwalker]

I have never quite understood why players seem to pursue maximum value contracts in free agency or when resigning with the team they are on.

Peyton Manning always commanded such a large salary that it was very hard to assemble talent around him. Brady has consistently played for less than market value. Peyton has two rings. Brady has five.

Let's say that a player who plays for the Giants, Cowboys, has the option of signing for 12 million per year or go to Cleveland and make 15 million per year. That's a large difference but I would expect the endorsement options would be significantly greater in Dallas or New York than Cleveland, not to mention their chance of winning and quality of life would also come into play.

I guess players view salary as the main measuring stick of success. But does it matter if you make it on the field or the endorsements? Isn't money just money either way?

A guy on local sports talk radio made this into a racial issue.

 

[TheHerd]

It's also east to forget that Brady's wife makes it easy for him to lower the priority of money at this point. His salary is almost a rounding error on top of her net worth.

 

[Verdict]

A guy on local sports talk radio made this into a racial issue.

How so?

 

[Verdict]

I think people forget that Brady is almost 40-years-old. One of the highest paid players as of 2005. The highest paid player as of 2010 at 33-years-old.

Has since signed a variety of extensions, the last being with $28M guaranteed to add just 2 years to his contract when he was going into the season at 39-years-old. There are now rumors that he could extend his current contract again.

To answer the question, players often pursue the highest contract because they aren't Tom Brady who can be amongst the highest paid players for a decade. Guarantees only go so far in the NFL and teams cut their losses every season. Injuries cut careers short. I'm sure many players would give more thought to whether or not they will be competing if you assured them a 20-year-career. They also aren't Tom Brady in the sense that they can't be one of the highest paid NFL players and marry someone who earns twice as much. Pretty easy to sacrifice a couple million dollars when your net worth is halfway to a billion dollars.

Brady would be an exception even if the claim that he has taken less than market value held up. Based on his contracts in his prime earning years, I think it's hard to make that case. If the Patriots are lucky with Brady, it's only because his longevity gave him enough prime earning years to make raw contract totals less appealing at an old age.

Thios is why you can't just say "player X is Y years old" and we need to discount him for that. Its a factor, but there is no arbitrary cutoff for a players ability to play at a high level at a given age.

 

[jwooten15]

Great topic, OP. I've long wondered the same thing. It seems every player covets $$ over winning.

I guess a certain amount of greed is ingrained in us all, just human nature. But if all these guys truly cared about winning championships, why are they not willing to play for anything less than the max contract when some of them already have $100+ million in a bank account?

I can understand that mindset in baseball, where there is no salary cap (and even in basketball to a certain extent, where they can just pay into the luxury tax if the team goes over the cap), but the NFL has a hard cap, and basically nobody sacrifices a little money for the sake of winning. It's puzzling.

 

[Hoofbite]

Thios is why you can't just say "player X is Y years old" and we need to discount him for that. Its a factor, but there is no arbitrary cutoff for a players ability to play at a high level at a given age.

not arguing either way, but you'd be right more often than you would be wrong by setting arbitrary cutoffs.

 

[dagreat1_87]

Well some players will take less to go to a contender. There have been a few reports saying how the browns and jags were offering a player more money but they took less from a better team. Believe one was tony jefferson

 

[Verdict]

Great topic, OP. I've long wondered the same thing. It seems every player covets $$ over winning.

I guess a certain amount of greed is ingrained in us all, just human nature. But if all these guys truly cared about winning championships, why are they not willing to play for anything less than the max contract when some of them already have $100+ million in a bank account?

I can understand that mindset in baseball, where there is no salary cap (and even in basketball to a certain extent, where they can just pay into the luxury tax if the team goes over the cap), but the NFL has a hard cap, and basically nobody sacrifices a little money for the sake of winning. It's puzzling.

Thanks. I am not discounting greed. In fact I am banking on it. It is a fact of life that in a big market city the endorsement/advertising options would be greater than most small markets. If you can make slightly less salary in a big market, but make way more in endorsements why wouldn't you just be a greedy ******* and go for the endorsement money. It is like missing the forest for the trees.

 

[Common Sense]

These guys must have some needy families if they're still worried about taking care of them on eight figures a year.

 

[Nightman]

Thanks. I am not discounting greed. In fact I am banking on it. It is a fact of life that in a big market city the endorsement/advertising options would be greater than most small markets. If you can make slightly less salary in a big market, but make way more in endorsements why wouldn't you just be a greedy ******* and go for the endorsement money. It is like missing the forest for the trees.

The NFLPA also puts a lot of pressure on them not to leave money on the table

Brady gave them a deal one year and they still traded Welker over a few million....he was furious

It is very rare for a player to give up big money for the cause

 

[Bigdog]

Plus they don't have a hot model wife that is worth double their worth like Brady.

What a life...

Exactly. Brady's wife makes twice as much as he does so he can take a low salary to obtain players around him to win 5 SB. I think there are 7-8 QB's in the league that makes more money than he does.

 

[Q_the_man]

You rarely see a player take less unless they really want to play for that team otherwise they are more likely to take max dollars from whomever offers the most.

Reasoning? Just say for example you had 1 year offers. One for 9 million to play for whoever and 6 million to say on your same team, then you might say with your home team.

For this exercise we not bringing in states with no state tax. Lets use CA and NY as the states so endorsements should be the same.

These players have money but taxes takes a huge chunk, then you have to pay your agent, bills, shopping, traveling and more than likely if you are young you are probably paying for everything for your entourage. After all is said and done that 6 mil is looking like a good million if that but that 9 million would be looking like 2-3 million after..

Forget all this, I'm taking less money for the Cowboys and max money anywhere else... Every team normally pays 6-8 players real good money it's just who are those 6-8 players and missing out and overpaying the wrong person can set you back...