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__ League Turnover __ Some positive light to shed on there being no salary cap in the NFL would be that there would be a greater turnover in competition. By this, I mean that the new, uncapped league leaves more opportunity for the good teams to get bad and the bad teams to climb to the top. The specific rules that impact this are the Final 8 and Final 4 Rules. They strictly limit the leagues best 8 teams from signing more than one or two good free-agents and the Final 4 rule makes it nearly impossible for the four best teams to gain any improvement from the free agent market. This may also change the priorities for players because they can go into free agency and receive an unlimited amount of money, but sign with a lower level team. These two rules alone will successfully make sure that no team stays at the top for too long and develops another dynasty in the NFL ever again.
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__ Rookie Pay Scale __ The only glaring problems that jumps out about the uncapped year in regards to the draft is that over the last few years NFL rookies have become increasingly stubborn in the signing of their contracts. Whether this be the work of their agents, or their family or whom ever is giving them advice, this is a very glaring problem. Just this past year, receiver Michael Crabtree held out for several months and even threatened to go back into the draft the following year all because he thought he deserved more money. These kids haven’t played a second of NFL football and they think they deserve the biggest contracts in the league. It leaves them in a position of power among NFL locker rooms, which makes absolutely no sense considering their extreme lack of experience. The solution to this would be a rookie pay scale, which would not only take away from the rookies’ pay but also greatly reduce the amount of guaranteed money a rookie draft pick is given upon his entrance to the NFL. This also gives teams the option to cut the player if they don’t perform up to the expected level and then not have to pay them millions of dollars. This eliminates the number of Vernon Gholston’s and Jamarcus Russell’s of the league who are garbage but are bound to their teams because of the guaranteed money attached to them. __ NFL becomes MLB __ One of the bad things about the new rules in place is that is makes the NFL franchises more like they are in the MLB. The teams that have more base income (The Yankees) can spend large amounts of money to lure the best players over to their team as long as it’s only a certain percentage of their team income. This gives a certain unfair edge to the wealthier franchises. Some of the fortune is negated by the Final 4 and 8 rules but this subject is still a slippery slope in the NFL. It puts the smaller, cheaper franchises, who used to rely on everyone having the same salary cap, in some deep trouble in some aspects.

__ Player Pay __ Great Players and just average players will now be separated even more with no cap because not only does the max salary have no limit, but the minimum salary drops to around $100,000. Now, by looking at a player’s salary you will be able to tell exactly what kind of player they are. This may promote lower level players to find work elsewhere including the Canadian Football League or even the newly established American Football League.

__Downward Spiral__

The reason that the competition aspect of the league must be improved can be summed up by two words, “Detroit Lions”. For those who don’t watch football, the Lions are annually the worst team in the league and this has begun to detriment their franchise. Not only are they losing fans but they don’t have any marquee names to market to the remaining supporters. This causes a downward trend because without fans there’s no one to buy the merchandise. The drop in fans will lead to a drop in ticket sales and the trend will spiral downward until it ends in financial turmoil. This all will occur while the Lions continue to lose 13 games per season.

__ The Top of the League __

On the other end of the NFL spectrum are the New England Patriots. This exemplifies the mindset of an ageing NFL free agent. “I could probably get more money elsewhere, but I want to go to the Patriots because I want a championship”. This is why all the good free agents sign with New England and they are able to restock there team each year over the offseason.

__ Jumping Leagues __

The change in salaries will prompt some lower level players to search for other ways to build a football legacy. This will lead to players jumping to other leagues such as the CFL of the AFL. With a lower level of competition, the other leagues will make these players look better which will earn them a possibly higher salary then they would earn in the NFL. __Not Worth It__

With no ceiling to how high a player’s salary can go, the bottom also drops out. This of course means that the minimum NFL salary goes from $500,000 to $100,000 dollars. This raises an issue as to whether it is worth it to go out and risk ones physical well-being over an average salary when they could finish college and instead go for some less risky job that pays the same. I believe these thoughts will be in many players’ minds as they decide whether to enter the NFL or go off to pursue safer dreams in the world.