The NFL will become MLB

[ZeroClub]

I can understand to an extent what you are saying. i would be a liar if i said i wasnt saddened to see Ken Norton, Mark Stepnoski or Kevin Gogan leave in the mid ninties onto greener pastures.

OTOH, I think alot of that had to do with the way we were structuring contracts. The backloaded deals inevitably put teams in situations wheer they have to make tough choices. One thing the Jones' are doing lately is structuring straight deals so as to not 'mortgage' their futures. As such were going to keep our Wittens and Williams and Newmans and Romos.

Its sad but i also feel that the players have the freedom to go and work where they choose and is not chosen for them. I know its sad but the pursuit of happiness is something that every man should have and short of indentured servitude there is no way keep players on the same team.

Sure. Can't put the genie back into the bottle. I wouldn't want to if I could. The old way (e.g., 1970's) was unfair to players.

But I maintain that the present system is needlessly insensitive to the connection between players and their franchises.

There are ways that the NFL and the Players Association can tweak the collective bargaining agreement so that teams get some sort of salary cap break by retaining (some of) their own players -- without reducing the overall amount of money that is being distributed to NFL players.

Note that I'm not talking about restricting the free agent's freedom to negotiate with other teams.

Instead, I'm talking about giving the player's current franchise a business incentive for keeping their own long time players.

(... that's the "longevity player" stuff that I introduced earlier in this thread.)