NFL’s Rookie Pitch: Divert 300M From 1st Round Draft Choices

NEW YORK – The NFL’s proposal to the players for a rookie compensation system would divert about $300 million a year from first-round draft picks’ contracts to veterans and player benefits.

According to documents obtained by The Associated Press, the league’s offer would free more than $1.2 billion by 2016 and severely slow the growth rate of guaranteed payments to first-rounders, which the documents show increased by 233 percent since 2000.

Guaranteed money paid to top 10 selections since 2000 reached nearly $2 billion. Guaranteed payments for all first-rounders was at $3.5 billion.

During talks for a new collective bargaining agreement, the league also proposed eliminating holdouts by reducing the maximum allowable salary if a rookie isn’t signed when training camp begins.