Is it ever okay to call an ex-Raider great a complete arsehole?

[Bram Raider]

Because if it is, then Upshaw is getting damn close.

In his weekly 100-word column posted on the NFL Players Association’s web site (maybe they should reduce that to 50 now that Mario Manningham is in the league), Executive Director Gene Upshaw reiterates that there will be no agreement to a rookie wage scale:

“Every spring, the buzz from general managers is, ‘We need to fix rookie compensation.’ We addressed this issue by limiting rookie pool growth and fixing the maximum number of years a rookie could sign. The length of contracts severely limits players’ ability to move money into future years. What the media doesn’t report is that the rookie pool is part of the overall salary cap, and a player is only a rookie for one season. Clubs want the players to pay for mistakes teams make in drafting. We’ll never agree to a rookie wage scale in such a short-career sport.”

Sorry, but the more Upshaw talks about this, the less sense he makes. And he never addresses the core question — whether it makes sense to take some of those millions that will be paid to Jake Long and Chris Long and Matt Ryan and Darren McFadden and Glenn Dorsey and Vernon Gholston and Sedrick Ellis and Derrick Harvey and Keith Rivers and Jerod Mayo and allow that money to be spent on players who already have proven that they can compete successfully on the NFL level.

The flaw in any reason that Upshaw can articulate is the salary cap. Every dollar not spent on a rookie is an extra dollar that is available for a veteran. So by reeling in the money paid to the guys taken at the top of the draft, who have no vote in the matter, there is more money to be paid to guys who already are in the league, and who have full say in the matter.

Upshaw’s position only illustrates, in our view, that he’s out of touch with the people he is paid a multi-million-dollar windfall of his own to serve.

As a player told us last week, the notion that they don’t want a rookie wage scale is flat-out wrong.

“It’s the exact opposite,” the player said. “Players want it because it benefits them.”

In our view, Upshaw’s stance on this issue is the very thing that could bring enough players together to make a meaningful run at bouncing him out of his job.

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I'm getting a little friggin' sick of his bias towards agents when he should be doing his job for veteran players.

The league mandates that teams have to pay a percentage of the total salary cap to players on the roster, yet Upshaw will not acknowledge that giving rookies less means that veterans will get paid more.

He is a dumbass. An arsehole.
I hope the NFLPA votes him out.

[Raider Ran]

We need a rookie salary cap for sure. It is totally ridiculous for rookies to make more money than proven vets. Upshaw is way off base on this one. Asshole? Definatley biased toward agents.

[Bram Raider]

Originally Posted by Raider Ran

We need a rookie salary cap for sure. It is totally ridiculous for rookies to make more money than proven vets. Upshaw is way off base on this one. Asshole? Definatley biased toward agents.

Biased.
Sorry, I'm a little calmer now.

Its just the appreciation that we would give whoever we had drafted, but in this case McFadden $40m+ over 6 years with some $18m to $20m guaranteed, with no idea if he could play in the NFL, never mind whether he might get injured.

Upshaw justs need to go, and damn quick.

[UC]

I wouldn't mind if he lost his job...

[LaRaider2010]

Agreed, No other business in the world would structure Salaries like this. Ridiculous !!!! And yes, Upshaw is way way off base.
He should lose his job, but the only thing worse would be if Jim Brown got the job!!!!

[4plunkinthehall]

Bram I think you missed Gene's point. He wants the owners/GM'S to take control of the spending. If the teams collectively agreed not to pay this exorbatant annual inflation and agents knew teams set a trend etched in stone, rookies would be forced to accept a reasonable deal. But because they are not unified in doing this, it is what it is. Gene just wants less government. Not really objecting to a rookie cap.

[raiderofOregon]

I in some ways understand that he's just trying to get as much money for the players as he can, it's sort of his job, but he doesn't seem to understand that the players ability to make money is based around the overall health of the league. As it is the way the top 10 rookies make such exorbitant cash without playing a down really can hurt the league in the long run becuase it throws things off. I personally think that Upshaw is off base here. Not to mention that he's kind of a dick and doesn't treat people very well

[Bram Raider]

Originally Posted by 4plunkinthehall

Bram I think you missed Gene's point. He wants the owners/GM'S to take control of the spending. If the teams collectively agreed not to pay this exorbatant annual inflation and agents knew teams set a trend etched in stone, rookies would be forced to accept a reasonable deal. But because they are not unified in doing this, it is what it is. Gene just wants less government. Not really objecting to a rookie cap.

You are so wrong.
Upshaw has stated many times that we don't need a rookie cap.

Yeah, right.
Thats not what most of the players say.

The only people who don't want a rookie cap are the super-agents, those morons who do little but cream off 3.5% of the rookie's guaranteed money.
And Upshaw is represented by one of those men.

Fire Upshaw. Quick.

[HITMAN]

Most of the player reps don't agree with Upshaw... and they are trying to oust him and should.

[TheAxis]

the only way i see that it makes sense is allowing the players, ie the rookies to make the money while they can.. There is such a huge risk of injury in the nfl, especially compared to other leagues, and the career longevity of these players is far shorter. I can see where it would be a difficult situation to restrict the amount of money these players are going to make knowing that one play can end their career. Along the same lines, players that have been doing this for a long time are still getting paid tons of money and are being rewarded more checks for every season they play. in a sense, the longer you play, the more you get paid.

having said that, i still side towards a rookie cap.

[JFF]

The league ond Upshaw want the owners to have to take on the agents. Its buck passing.

The NFLPA is wrong to oppose a rookie cap. Agents are wrong for approaching rookie salaries the way they should approach veteran salaries. Owners are wrong for giving in to agents and paying rookies like vets.

Its an unbelievably stupid system all around.

What do you call 100 sports agents chained together at the bottom of the ocean?