It appears the new collective bargaining agreement, which may be put into effect before the end of the week, will contain a provision the NFL owners were looking for: a rookie salary structure.
This is important to owners as it keeps high draft picks from consuming a large chunk of cap money when it is not clear how the player will adapt to the league. Gone will be the days of a fresh-out-of-college quarterback getting a bigger paycheck than those quarterbacks in the NFL wearing super bowl rings.
The details will not be known until everything has a bow on it, but some things will be hard to include. There will most likely be some personal conduct verbiage standard, but performance incentives would be hard to mandate. Also, signing bonuses may not be hard numbers and may have associated ranges or conditions.
In any case, the fact that much is predetermined should allow teams to shorten the time it takes to get draft picks under contract. And should everything come together this week, it will be important to get rookies in front of coaches as soon as possible.
In a year without a summer, a rookie salary structure could help get the season underway quickly.
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