By the end of a professional athlete's career, a man (or woman) can get pretty beat up. If you look at one of the most violent sports in the world, football, players have been in constant pain over the course of 10 seasons. They've been doing this for about 19 years through high school, college, and the professional ranks. They've played through small aches and pains and might barely be able to walk in a couple of seasons. They pretty much deserve every penny they get. That's why the way rookies act before coming into their respective leagues is pretty much a load of crap.
This has gotten absolutely out of control. In baseball, a team has to worry about a players signability rather than their talent. The case in point was Stephen Strasburg, the pitching prospect out of San Diego State. Negotiations with Strasburg went down to the wire, but the Washington Nationals were able to secure Strasburg. The problem is that it didn't come cheap. Strasburg signed a deal that will pay him 15 million over the next 4 seasons. The deal was negotiated by super agent Scott Boras. Boras also represented multiple clients that were selected in the top 10 such as Seattle Mariners prospect Dustin Ackley (9.5 million over 4 years) and San Diego Padres prospect Donovan Tate (9.2 million over 4 years) this is all without throwing a pitch or taking a swing in professional baseball.
Baseball is one of the most chaotic simply because it's a crap shoot. Twins fans will cringe over the mention of names such as B.J. Garbe, Adam Johnson, and Matt Moses. All were players who got paid straight out of the draft and flopped like fish in the minor leagues. Remember, before Denard Span's emergence into the Twins lineup, many thought that he would wind up being a bust.
However, the worst out of all professional sports is football. As I mentioned before, football players pay a ridiculous price for their careers. Most of these players are getting way overpaid before they even play a down. Here are the top 10 picks from last year's draft and their contracts (or lack thereof).
1. Detroit Lions: Matthew Stafford, QB, Georgia (6 years, 41.7 million guaranteed)
2. St. Louis Rams: Jason Smith, T, Baylor (6 yrs, 33 mil)
3. Kansas City Chiefs: Tyson Jackson, DE, LSU (5 yrs, 31 mil)
4. Seattle Seahawks: Aaron Curry, LB, Wake Forest (6 yrs, 34 mil)
5. New York Jets: Mark Sanchez, QB, USC (5 yrs, 28 million)
6. Cincinnati Bengals: Andre Smith, T, Alabama (Unsigned)
7. Oakland Raiders: Darrius Heyward-Bey, WR, Maryland (5 yrs, 23.5 mil)
8. Jacksonville Jaguars: Eugene Monroe, T, Virginia (5 yrs, terms not available)
9. Green Bay Packers: B.J. Raji, DT, Boston College (Terms not available)
10. San Francisco 49ers: Michael Crabtree, WR, Texas Tech (Unsigned)
As you can see, there's still two picks that have yet to be signed. The Bengals will probably get Andre Smith signed soon. The worst of this is Mr. Crabtree. Crabtree fell because some teams thought that he was a diva. He fell to the 10th pick and was taken by the 49ers. A lot of people found this preposterous, but then Crabtree started his monster holdout. Mel Kiper Jr. has done a lot of good things for the NFL draft, he may have done some harm here as Crabtree felt he should have been taken with the third pick in the draft. So he wants third pick money even though he was selected tenth. Let's make this clear, he's holding out WITHOUT playing a professional down.
This just needs to stop. For all the things I hate about the NBA, they did one thing right. Each pick has a slot value and teams can only go so much above their slot value. Picks sign and report to their teams, and they don't miss training camp or hold out for more money because they can't. Hopefully all pro sports adopt a system like this, but I don't think that this will happen soon.
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