We continue our look at five off-the-field rule changes the NFL needs to make.
- 3. If a team drafts or signs a player as an undrafted college free agent, they get a 10 percent break on his second contract and all future contracts as long as he’s with the team
- 4. Marijuana should be removed from the NFL’s list of banned substances
- 5. As part of a player’s injury recovery, he should be able to use any substance and treatment under a doctor’s direction (including steroids)
Click here to catch up with Part 1.
3. If a team drafts or signs a player as an undrafted college free agent, they get a 10 percent break on his second contract and all future contracts as long as he’s with the team
Again, this is a rule to keep the salary cap from punishing teams that know how to scout and evaluate players (or just got lucky). Consider the Aaron Donald deal with the Rams. The team drafted him back in 2014 at No. 13 overall. He was the second player the Rams picked in that draft after busting on offensive tackle Greg Robinson. Donald wants to make $20 million a year and he deserves to make it. As I said earlier, no player in the league graded higher at his position than Donald. Pro Football Focus gave him a 99.7 overall grade. That is the highest PFF grade in the history of the service, surpassing J.J. Watt’s 99.5 in 2013. The only thing keeping Donald out of mandatory minicamp right now is his contract and the only reason he and the Rams haven’t agreed to one yet is Los Angeles is trying to figure out a way to configure it under the cap when they have Jared Goff, Todd Gurley, Brandin Cooks and Marcus Peters to pay over the next couple of seasons.
Now consider that, under the two salary cap rules on this list, Goff’s contract might only cost $12 million against the cap (50 percent off) and Gurley’s next deal only $10.5 million (because he’s asking for $12 million). Of course, Cooks and Peters’ new contracts will come with no discount because they were acquired as trades.
If Donald would take $18 million right now, my guess is he’d be practicing tomorrow. If the Rams could pay him $20 million and only count $18 million against the cap, he’d be practicing tomorrow.
4. Marijuana should be removed from the NFL’s list of banned substances
Regardless of how angrily U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions stomps around his tree fort, marijuana is currently legal in nine out of 50 states and in Washington D.C. itself. There’s a good chance over the next decade at least 15 more states will do the same. Eventually, pot will be legal nationwide because we all know (with the exception of Sessions) that it should be.
BREAKING: U.S. health regulators have approved a treatment for seizures that is the first prescription drug made from marijuana. https://t.co/ofwfTG43ca
— The Associated Press (@AP) June 25, 2018
So why is the NFL still testing for it? As of today, marijuana (medical or recreational) is legal in California, Washington State, D.C., Arizona, Minnesota, Illinois, Florida, Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New York and Massachusetts. Those states are the homes of 20 out of the 32 NFL teams.
5. As part of a player’s injury recovery, he should be able to use any substance and treatment under a doctor’s direction (including steroids)
Speaking of drugs, if you got a bad case of strep or fell face first into poison ivy, there’s a good chance your doctor would prescribe steroids as part of your treatment. It would be the same if you were recovering from a shoulder or knee injury. Why can’t NFL players, under a doctor, do the same thing?
It doesn’t require rocket surgery or brain science. Let NFL players have access to the same treatments the rest of us have available for their injuries and conditions. If the idea is there that private doctors may prescribe treatments players don’t need, the answer to that is simple. The NFL should have its own official doctors.
