The Aiyuk situation reinforces two basic realities in the NFL:
1. That 4-5 year rookie deals are outrageous; and
2. That the real problem appears to be SF's intent to pay Purdy "Elite QB Money."
If rookie deals were 2 years, as they should be, then Aiyuk (and every other player) would get salary "marked to market" much more efficiently and accurately, and you wouldn't see these ridiculous holdouts. I don't know why there isn't a groundswell of support to dump the 4-5 year rookie deals. The team GMs all want 1st and 2nd rounders on the cheap and think they are smarter than everyone else. That is horse puckey. And besides, paying professionals market value should trump individual owner/GMs belief that they are smarter and should be entitled to pay players less than market in years 3-5 of rookie deals. [Also, how "valuable" is this to teams, anyway? I mean, Aiyuk appears to be forcing SF's hand, even though it has him under contract for next year or two, rendering this team advantage much less valuable].
But the fundamental problem here appears to be the perceived need to pay Purdy $50+ million/season. That would be a huge mistake. The guy is a very good QB under Shanahan's system. But so would many, many other QBs. Put it his way, if Purdy were a free agent right now, how much would another team be willing to pay him? Hell, I can't even think of a team that would want Purdy as their starter over players on current roster (with exception of the Raiders, but only because I don't even know who their roster QBs are). Maybe New England? Serious question: would Purdy start on any other NFL team right now?
Purdy should be thrilled to get $30M/year from the 'Niners. And if they operated on that foundational assumpion, paying Aiyuk his market value now would not be a problem.
1. That 4-5 year rookie deals are outrageous; and
2. That the real problem appears to be SF's intent to pay Purdy "Elite QB Money."
If rookie deals were 2 years, as they should be, then Aiyuk (and every other player) would get salary "marked to market" much more efficiently and accurately, and you wouldn't see these ridiculous holdouts. I don't know why there isn't a groundswell of support to dump the 4-5 year rookie deals. The team GMs all want 1st and 2nd rounders on the cheap and think they are smarter than everyone else. That is horse puckey. And besides, paying professionals market value should trump individual owner/GMs belief that they are smarter and should be entitled to pay players less than market in years 3-5 of rookie deals. [Also, how "valuable" is this to teams, anyway? I mean, Aiyuk appears to be forcing SF's hand, even though it has him under contract for next year or two, rendering this team advantage much less valuable].
But the fundamental problem here appears to be the perceived need to pay Purdy $50+ million/season. That would be a huge mistake. The guy is a very good QB under Shanahan's system. But so would many, many other QBs. Put it his way, if Purdy were a free agent right now, how much would another team be willing to pay him? Hell, I can't even think of a team that would want Purdy as their starter over players on current roster (with exception of the Raiders, but only because I don't even know who their roster QBs are). Maybe New England? Serious question: would Purdy start on any other NFL team right now?
Purdy should be thrilled to get $30M/year from the 'Niners. And if they operated on that foundational assumpion, paying Aiyuk his market value now would not be a problem.
