What is the NFL coming to, when there are court-cases about what position a player is playing at. Jimmy Graham just recently lost his ruling to be paid as a WR because of his production during the past 3 years. Terrell Suggs for the Baltimore Ravens wanted to be designated as a DE instead of an OLB a few years back, because he felt he put his hand in the ground more. This resulted in them designated him as the leagues first hybrid DE/OLB and paid him accordingly. Once again this is another example of the players muscling the owners for more money. If the league does not come together and take a stand against these shenanigans, they are going to have a fight on their hands with just about every position.
When you look at it, there are players who do more than one position at times all over the field. Do blocking TEs get to grab their lawyers and go to court to claim they want to be designated and paid as a Tackle? The answer is no. No one appreciates what the blocking TE brings to the running-game, and they are not noticed like the diva pass-catching TEs. Safeties have to come down in the box and play like LBs to help stop the run, but you don’t see bangers like Kam Chancellor and Bernard Pollard banging the table for a separate position designation. However, since these players want to play this “I should get paid as a…” then I believe the owners should have a bit of fun with it as well.
For example, lets take a look at the most prestigious position on the field, the all-mighty general of the field, the Quarterback. Let’s say another signal caller comes to the table for a max deal. Owners could come to the table and say “now hang on young man, you ran the ball 25 percent of the time last year. We have to look at only paying you 75% of what a normal QB get’s paid.” Depending on how much they ran they could even fight to designate and pay the player as a running back. I did the math and we’re talking about a 8 million dollar difference in pay if we’re talking about the top players at each of the two positions.
What I am getting at is this. Should these legal fights continue on about player position designations, the Owners might find a way to fight back, which could have disastrous results. The league could end up in another lockout due to greed. So with that said, I believe the NFL Players Association needs to tell the players to take top-five money the position that they were initially designated and press forward. Do it for the fans. Players owe us that.
Jermaine Lockett is the CEO and a Writer for Couch Rider Report. Follow us on twitter and like us on Facebook.