Owners Opt-Out Fallout - 4-year Max Rookie deals? (1 Viewer)

[JaxBill]

Lost in the details of the Matt Ryan article is an important issue that may affect other Top 10 picks.

The Falcons' haste in finalizing the deal with Ryan received a boost when word leaked the NFL owners, who met Tuesday in Atlanta, were about to opt out of a labor deal with the players' union in 2011. Before the owners' unanimous vote, the deal could not have gone through 2013.The Falcons and Ryan's agent, Tom Condon, already had agreed on six years as the basis for their deal, and to make that happen they needed to complete the negotiations by Tuesday."We couldn't have gotten a six-year contract if we didn't get this deal done by 4 today," Blank said."That was the urgency in getting it done today. The structure of the contract would not have been permissible because of the opt out."McKay said he was involved in negotiations until 3 a.m. Tuesday and started again at 6 a.m.

The implication now is that there is a four year max on rookie contracts and that will affect signing bonus size. It won't be easy to compare last year's contracts to reach a settlement. For instance, Adrian Peterson, drafted number 7 overall last year signed a 6 year 40 million contract with 17 mil guaranteed. How much will Oakland offer McFadden at 5 if they can only lock him up for 4 years?