Changes in contract negotiations over the years

[Lesson]

Thanks for taking our questions once again Mr. Demoff, it is greatly appreciated.

My question to you is since you have entered the NFL is how has the negotiating process changed with regards to contract negotiations? To clarify, have you seen more teams defer money or pay it forward as well as any changes in the overall duration for the "average" contract aside from the change of the rookie pay scale?

Thanks!

 

[kdemoff]

That's a very interesting question. I think it really depends on each team's individual salary cap situation. There are some teams that are taking on larger base salaries and roster bonuses, however with the smaller yearly growth in the salary cap the past few years, most teams have retained the traditional approach of mixing base salary with amortized bonuses.

We have employed both concepts over the past few years but right now given our roster mix we are focused on preserving future salary cap space to re-sign our younger players as they come out of contract. By 2014 we will have 12 players that are 1st and 2nd rounders under the new rookie wage scale on the roster, and all of those players will start to be eligible for significant raises beginning in 2015. From our perspective, the most important planning we can do is to keep our young nucleus together for years to come. That is why we are focused on the pay as you go approach so that we ensure we have significant cap space in future years such as 2015 and 2016. While it would be easy to push off cap charges into the future for immediate gratification of free agency this year, our belief is this strategy will give us the longest possible window to keep our roster together.

KD