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It's hard not to look at the contracts that are being handed out in the NBA and not notice the vast difference between them and their NFL counterparts. Even role players in the NBA are getting paid very well right now, highlighted by the 4-year, $38M contract signed by Matthew Dellavedova.
More than just a couple of NFL players have taken notice of these discrepancies too, though if anybody is truly upset then they really only have their own representatives to blame. The NBA players negotiated a better deal, and they have less players to split the money up between. There is no fixing that for NFL players until they get another shot at negotiations in 2020, when the current CBA expires.
Really though, there is no fixing it at all because some factors just can not be replicated. The NBA carries only 15 players per team, where the NFL carries 53 on their active rosters. The percentages between these two leagues for what was negotiated for the players compared to the league is already pretty close with the NFL players getting 48% of league revenue while NBA players get 50%, but the NBA gets to split their percentage up among far less players.
The part that the NFL players need to focus on that differs between the NBA and the NFL is the guaranteed contracts that the NBA has and the NFL does not. Teams are allowed to give fully guaranteed contracts to players in the NFL but they never do. Why would they when their CBA isn't forcing them to?
If this strange NBA Free Agency taught the NFL players anything, it should be to concentrate on getting fully guaranteed deals. At least for their veteran players that are more likely to be cut towards the end of their contracts anyway. The NBA already has guaranteed contracts, as do MLB, and neither of those sports feature as violent of hits as the NFL players go through.
The NFL will need a lot more league revenue for their players to ever come close to the NBA money being tossed around right now, but in the meantime they should concentrate on what they can fix. Making sure to get more guaranteed money in the next CBA negotiations will surely be at the top of the list come 2020.
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