Rams sign Bradford for $78,000,000!?!

[BengalszoneBilly]

50 million of which is guaranteed!?! You have to be f**kin' kidding me. This kid hasn't proven jack s**t at the NFL level, yet an owner throws this kind of cash at him. Didn't anyone learn anything from the JaMarkus Russell debacle!?! Something has to change because these owners are spending money almost as fast and recklessly as Obama.

Rams, Bradford agree to terms

By R.B. FALLSTROM, AP Sports Writer

ST. LOUIS (AP)—No. 1 overall draft pick Sam Bradford agreed to a six-year, $78 million contract with the St. Louis Rams on Friday night, with $50 million in guaranteed money.

The Rams and the former Oklahoma quarterback concluded negotiations in time for the first full-squad workout set for Saturday. The guaranteed money is the highest ever in the NFL.

Bradford is the centerpiece of a rebuilding effort for the Rams, who were 1-15 last year in the first season under coach Steve Spagnuolo and are 6-42 the last three seasons.

Spagnuolo reiterated earlier this week that veteran backup Jay Feeley is the starter entering training camp. But Bradford, the 2008 Heisman Trophy winner, shouldn’t be on the bench for long.

Marc Bulger, rookie Keith Null and Kyle Boller) combined for only 12 touchdown passes all last year. St. Louis trailed the NFL with a 10.9-point scoring average, leaning heavily on Pro Bowl running back Steven Jackson.

Quarterback Matthew Stafford, the No. 1 pick last year, got $41.7 million in guaranteed money on a six-year, $72 million deal with the Lions last year.

Bradford’s agents, Tom Condon and Ben Dogra of St. Louis, also represent Rams offensive tackle Jason Smith and Smith also signed just in time for the first full-squad workout. Smith was the second overall pick last year and got a five-year, $62 million deal with $33 million in guaranteed money.

Bradford led the nation with 48 touchdown passes in 2008. He played in only three games in 2009 before undergoing season-ending shoulder surgery.

Bradford attended the team’s mandatory minicamp last month as well as a rookie minicamp after the draft. He missed three practices for rookies, quarterbacks and veterans coming off injuries, two of them on Thursday.

[Kazkal]

downside of system,glaD it will be gone next year.

[derekshank]

Stafford was one of top 5 highest paid players last year I the entire NFL. That's proof enough that the system is broken. A rookie should never be making more money than players like Tom Brady and Drew Brees.

[ArmyBengal]

And from a teams perspective, if the player you just guaranteed 50 million dollars busts, your entire organization suffers for many years even after he's gone. Oakland was lucky it was an uncapped year this season to be able to rid themselves of Russell.

[BengalPimp]

This is one of the main reasons there might be a lockout. I can see both sides' point of view. The owners essentially get penalized for having such a bad team/high draft choice. Sure, they could be getting a very good player, but that player is going to already be the highest payed on the team (and among the highest paid in the league) without even taking a snap. That's a big chunk of your salary cap (in a capped year) for a player who has yet to prove himself, and in reality will take a couple of years to develop (especially at QB). It's ridiculous that a guy can come right out of college and get $50 million GUARANTEED and a contract worth about $13 million a year.

That said, from a players standpoint, If thats how the system is designed, hell, you gotta take advantage of it. After all, NFL contracts are NOT guaranteed like Basketball, Baseball, etc. Unless your contract has Guaranteed money, the teams can cut you at any time without losses (except for a Cap Hit which is not real $$$). For example just look at Coles. He signed a 4 year $28 million deal, and basically got just last season's pay out of it (a little over $9 million). I think everybody can agree that this is a violent sport, careers are shorter, and that's why they cannot fully guarantee contracts like some other sports. If I was an NFL player, I know I would want as much guaranteed money as I could possibly get, because that's the only thing keeping the team from just throwing you away whenever they want.

This system is flawed, we all know that, and hopefully it will get changed (or we'll face a lock-out). What really sucks though, is that the top 5-10 picks get so much money, and it's such a huge drop off from there. This years 2nd Rd picks from lowest to highest have gotten contracts from 4-years 3.1 million to 6.3 million (less than $1 mill per to about 1.5 mill per). That's seriously flawed. Look no further than Chris Johnson who was a #24 overall pick in '08 and signed a 5-year $12 million rookie contract. By comparison, the #1 pick (Jake Long) received a 5-year $57.75 million deal with $30 mill guaranteed. The difference of 23 slots = over $45 million. So basically, Top 5 picks are WAAAAY overpaid, and the bottom half of the 1st Rd are bargains. The fact that there is that much disparity in the pay of 1st Rd picks alone should be all information they need to know that this system SUCKS!

[jjakq27]

50 million of which is guaranteed!?! You have to be f**kin' kidding me. This kid hasn't proven jack s**t at the NFL level, yet an owner throws this kind of cash at him. Didn't anyone learn anything from the JaMarkus Russell debacle!?! Something has to change because these owners are spending money almost as fast and recklessly as Obama.

Maybe that's where they're getting the money! They got some Obama-money!

Seriously I hope they all come to their senses and develop a slotting system. As I said in an earlier post, for the amount of money these guys make and the risk that the owners are taking, every single guy oughta be at the OTAs and in camp on time. Period. It's borderline stupid on both sides.

[whizzo]

man, 50mil is a lot of money. sadly, high-picking teams don't have any other choice. here's hoping there will be a rookie wage scale of some sorts soon.

on a side note, i'd take Stafford over Bradford - i'm not sold on his durability. of course, he's a millionaire 50 times over, so what do i know?

[HairOnFire]

When the time comes I ask to remember that it wasn't me who derailed this thread.

I'm one of the 44% who still like Obama.

And I'd happily vote for him again....especially if the only alternative is a flip floppin' angry grandpa and a red leather-clad Alaskan hockey mom/professional celebrity/political Kardashian.

Just saying....

[jjakq27]

When the time comes I ask to remember that it wasn't me who derailed this thread.

I'm one of the 44% who still like Obama.

And I'd happily vote for him again....especially if the only alternative is a flip floppin' angry grandpa and a red leather-clad Alaskan hockey mom/professional celebrity/political Kardashian.

Just saying....

Don't worry this post will be deleted first. Then the accusations will fly.