In his weekly Sunday column, the Plain Dealer's Terry Pluto talked about a variety of things related to the Cleveland Browns, including why Colt McCoy worked well as the offensive leader and Scott Fujita worked well as the defensive leader in the team's camp(s). Pluto then went on to talk about the impact that the new rookie wage scale will have on the future. Here is the comparison of what Cam Newton will make versus what Sam Bradford got last year:
The best thing about the coming NFL labor settlement is a rookie salary cap. Under the new agreement, No. 1 pick Cam Newton will receive $22 million over four years, with a player option for a fifth season. Last year's top pick -- Sam Bradford -- signed a 6-year, $78 million deal, with $50 million guaranteed.
Pluto notes that rookie salaries are expected to be cut by about 50-75%, and it's about time. I think most fans found it absurd that as each year went on, agents were able to negotiate more lucrative deals for their clients. The issue was that a precedent was set every year that agents felt they could build off of. Now that there the rookies will have to take "what they are offered," which will be a little closer to what they are worth (still overpaid), the additional money can be dished to veterans as a result of teams being forced to increase their salary cap spending.
Pluto also believes this should cut down on the amount of holdouts we see, and it could change the way teams trade for draft picks in the future.