The Loveable Losers wrote:Don't forget...these guys have to get the up-front money. The NFL basically has no guaranteed contracts whatsoever. If he signs for less than he's looking for and has a career ending injury two weeks later then the Bears won't be feeling sorry for him next year...they'll release him and he's just out of luck at that point.
Based on what I've read so far the real issue is not the amount of up-front money but the # of years on the deal...the Bears want five years, Benson wants four. Also, while the non-guaranteed portion of the contract isn't money in the bank, the player is likely to earn this money provided that they do the job for which they are paid. This resembles the pay structure which is used for almost every job (except for the fact that the player will receive a portion of the money for doing nothing).
A lot of these people play football...they don't have any other marketable skills since they either took a soft major in college or didn't finish period (don't know if that is the case here...just speaking generally at the moment).
Really? And who's fault is this? I'm not going to make any attempt to empathize with someone because they wasted a free college-level education.
As much as some fans would like draft-day to be an automatic guarantee that the guy your team drafted will play for your team, it's not. These guys aren't indentured servants to the NFL. They have as much right as any one of us do to negotiate a contract that they're happy with before they become an employee.
Except that they are pretty much locked into playing in the NFL at this point, and sitting out a whole year would be devasting to the amount of up-front money they could earn the next season. Why is this? Most likely because they took a soft major in college or didn't finish out their degree (although I'm relatively sure Benson did). As I pointed out earlier, this is entirely the player's own fault and while I do feel sorry for some people who suffer from a lack of education or marketable skills, scholarship athletes are not among this group.
I got the raise after he thought about things for 2-3 weeks. I was too valuable to the company to let go. Of course, I had to make some consessions (basically work about 30% more hours than I would have been working had I not gotten the raise and ended up having to cut back on hours) but I got the raise nonetheless.
Although it wasn't directly mentioned in the example, I'm willing to bet that you continued working during the 2-3 weeks your boss was considering this offer, making this entirely different from an NFL holdout. I also doubt that you actually would have quit your job without finding another one first, although not knowing all of the details I could be wrong.
Now, am I being 'greedy' to ask for what I feel I'm worth? The only difference here is the size of the number on the paycheck. He's asking for what he feels he's worth and if he's not willing to play for the number the team offers him then that's his business.
The size of the paycheck makes a huge difference. You were not being "greedy" because you were attempting to make enough to live a decent quality of life, which in your case involved supporting a spouse and your children, which is a perfectly reasonable expectation for a person who has some marketable skills. There's really no way anyone can make the case that more than $7 million over 4 years (or any amount in that ballpark) is not enough to support oneself or even a fairly large family.
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by awwchrist » Fri Aug 26, 2005 10:51 am 
