PFT Reports There is Now a Rookie Wage Scale

As the millionaires and billionaires of the NFL continue to negotiate the current collective bargaining agreement, one of the issues that many predicted would be quickly cleared up was the rookie salary cap.  Too often teams have picked in the first round and come up bust with players like Jamarcus Russell getting $40 million plus to do little more than I did for their franchises.

Here are the details from ProFootballTalk:

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Details on the guaranteed money available have yet to be revealed but here’s a few key points to the agreement.

1. Rookie first-round contracts will be limited to four years.  The owners backed off an original idea to require first-round picks signing for five years.

2. Players drafted after the first round will be limited to three-year contracts.   Players would be restricted free agents in the fourth year.  This isn’t much different from the current system, when the majority of picks after the first round wind up with three-year contracts.”

This is very similar to the NBA.  If you were great in college, you now have three years in the big leagues to prove you are the real deal then cash in.