Written by: Charlie K.
The Truth About the NFL Draft
The future of the NFL depends greatly on this single night. Rather than strapping up in helmets and shoulderpads, the former collegiate stars will be dressed in suits and ties. This night I am referring to is the NFL draft, and it can make or break an NFL team. As these young players get drafted, a great many of them will be signed onto these various NFL rosters. With signing comes money, and with 224 players to be selected, there is truly a lot of it spent. The true question is, how much money is being spent and how does this total differ from player to player?
Although it does not always work out this way, it goes without saying that teams want to select players with the most talent and potential as early as possible. Obviously, as the draft plays out, players will begin to be payed less and less because they are more of a risk to the organization or they have less potential than players taken prior. This difference in pay is actually much more substantial than people realize. In fact, from the first overall draft pick to the 17th or 18th, there is normally be a drop of about 15 million dollars for that player contract. When the second round hits, players contracts are already cut to less than 5 million.
Possibly an even bigger part of the player’s contracts is the guaranteed money that they will receive no matter what. Although most first rounders are guaranteed at least 75% of their money, second round picks are sometimes not even entitled to 50%. As we reach the 4th round and beyond, many players are guaranteed little to no money, with generally small signing bonuses as well.
Chart showing the money that goes into the average NFL contract by which round they are picked in the draft
With this much on the line, many players must weigh their opportunity cost when thinking about doing anything they might regret to hurt their draft stock. Many players have lost tons of money due to off the field issues and concerns due to the surfacing of videos on social media, arrests, and more.One example of this was last year’s draft pertaining to Laremy Tunsil. Before draft night, Tunsil was projected to be drafted 3rd overall. In the morning on draft day, Laremy’s twitter was hacked, and a video surfaced of him using marijuana. This video essentially dropped him to to 13th pick and lost him nearly 13 million dollars. Aside from money, teams want players who create positive externalities for the franchise such as players who are very popular in the fan base, or who are great leaders and good people. In this day and age, many teams have to decide whether the talent is good enough that they want to take the risk on a player that could create a negative externality or cost them a ton of money.
Works CIted
Gaines, Cork. "Here's How Much Money Players Lose When They Fall in the NFL Draft."Business Insider. Business Insider, 27 Apr. 2016. Web. 13 Mar. 2017. <http://www.businessinsider.com/nfl-draft-contract-values-2016-4>.
Mark Inabinett. "2016 NFL Draft: How Much Each First-round Pick Will Be Paid." AL.com. N.p., 29 Apr. 2016. Web. 13 Mar. 2017. <http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2016/04/2016_nfl_draft_how_much_each_f.html>.
I've always thought it must be an interesting job to be a professional athlete, simply because of how many thousands of dollars you make, but also how many thousands of dollars you can lose. There are definitely lots of opportunity costs that don't involve the irregular pay such as injuries, less time spent at home, physical workouts, media, etc., that many players should take into consideration before signing their contract. I found this blog especially interesting because of the decrease in pay that the players get right after their draft and their contract is signed. It's no surprise that being a professional athlete would be enticing because of how much you can make, how famous you could become, and how you'd be able to play your favorite sport all the time, but the opportunity costs may be too much for some people, especially when you take into account the dramatic decrease of value in NFL draft values.
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