Shaun O’Hara and Willie McGinest discuss how the new CBA rules against two-a-day practices could influence rookies’ development.

The summer is almost upon us, with most teams finishing up their minicamps this week. For those who aren’t, they’ll wrap up next week. Given the new rookie wage scale, the common thought was that most rookie deals would be done before the summer. And yeah, most are. But not in the Top 8. As our friends at Pro Football Talk have explained, the battle over offset language has taken shape. Players and their agents, if players are cut before the end of their four-year deal, want to be able to “double-dip” and receive what’s left of their salary from the old team and a new salary with a new team. Teams don’t want that. They don’t understand why players should […]

The draft was not even a week old, and Bears WR Alshon Jeffery already had his rookie contract finished. That day, his agent Eugene Parker told me he didn’t understand why more teams didn’t follow suit. Soon, they would. Thanks to the new Collective Bargaining Agreement, rookie deals are getting done at record pace. The Seahawks are done with theirs. The Chargers signed three today. By the time I type this, another will probably get done. Players are paid from a smaller pool with a different structure from before, and haggling over first contracts is mostly old news. It’s basically a rookie wage scale, with strict rules. Agents will be trying to get the most guaranteed money they can for […]