Seems some wide receivers still on their rookie contracts are looking to pressure their teams for new contracts given the escalation of contract values
So if teams start giving in to this, that 5th year for first rounders will start losing a lot of value
What is your guys thought on this?
And all 3 are grossly underpaid.
This isn’t new to the NFL (or any league, for that matter) but it might have the affect you’re curious about. Teams will adjust, but there will always be someone who outperforms a contract (and if they underperform, a team also has an option to let them go—after all, it’s a business).
I was reading about AJ and Deebo earlier and was going to post something similar. These guys are really making that 5th year obsolete anymore. They all deserve to get paid to their production but when did a contract stop being a contract?
@Nate, yea I agree it’s not new for general contracts. But now it seems to be creeping into rookie contracts more and more.
All 3 are 2nd/3rd round guys on the last year of their deal… Guaranteed they don’t sit out of camp with a 5th year payday if they were 1st rounders.
When teams decided that contracts stopped being contracts, and found innumerable ways to not pay players, especially if they get hurt.
I didn’t look at it from that point of view. Makes sense.
Daniel Snyder is showing how much the Owners can be scumbags that’s for sure.
It’s not a matter of sitting out, they are using this as leverage to show they want more money now! If they don’t get it then I am sure the message is See Ya! when my contract is up. What this essentially does is remove any value on first round picks that have the 5th year. Now that assumes a team wants to resign that player.
I bring this up because there has been a lot of talk about our 32nd pick and how and who to use it on given first round players have the 5th year option.
SF is riding Deebo like a rental. They should pay up early.
I guess I’m missing the connection. All 3 of these guys were 2nd and 3rd round picks, which means the team doesn’t hold a 5th year option on them.
LOL…. 
Better not draft divas, draft guys like St. Brown.
I know that, but what I am wondering is if this trend is going to start affecting and bleeding into 1st round picks.
Hence the question “Do you guys think this could start happening?” Could 1st round picks start asking for new contracts at the start of the 4th year? If they do that would seem to devalue the whole first round 5th year option.
Just thinking out loud and wondering if anyone has thought about this
Ah but now we are seeing more contracts with Guaranteed money, so the players demanding a premium are starting to require this more and more. Nothing new in sports, heck been doing it that way in MLB for years, but the NFL owners seem to be accepting it more now.
LOL well there you go, I didn’t know Murray was pushing for this.
They’re not divas. They want to get paid according to their value. Just like St. Brown will if he outpeforms his rookie deal.
If a rookie blows up…after three full NFL seasons it is time for a team to pay up. If a 2nd or 3rd round player kills it like Brown yes he deserves a new deal and shame on the Titans for not getting a deal done now. Players who contribute in BIG ways as rookies and then also as 2nd and 3rd year players should not have to beg for a new deal so they are not putting their bodies on the line again without a guarantee of a future payday when you are that good.
A.J. Brown has 2995 receiving yards in three NFL seasons playing with Henry. Wow. AND…24 TDs yet he needs to beg for a new deal after three full NFL seasons of production? That isn’t right. Give the man a new deal…but keep value in year four but give him the guaranteed dollars he has earned but outperforming his rookie deal in a BIG way.
The ones who perform already ask for a new contract. The difference is the team has a fallback option of what equates to a free franchise tag on the guy after his 4th season. Teams don’t have that at their disposal with guys picked outside of the 1st round.
The 5th year option isn’t cheap. But it is a leverage point, just like a franchise tag is a leverage point. Its not a magic bullet that cures everything. But I don’t think you are going to see teams tell the league to void their franchise tags because “guys are going to hold out anyways.”
OK so I must be missing something on how this 5th year option works. If they perform and are already getting a new contract then what good is the 5th year option? It obviously isn’t any good if you are trying to keep a good player on a rookie deal for the 5th year, because like you said the ones who perform already as for a new contract.
To me this would mean picking a guy at 32 or 34 doesn’t matter, if he turns out to be a superstar that 5th option means nothing. Correct?
I am just trying to figure out now under what scenario that 5th year option adds value. An average player picked in the first?
