The NFL has certainly become a very lucrative sport. Players in the NFL and all professional sports are making amounts of money that are crazy to comprehend. For example, Trevor Lawrence, who just signed a 5-year 275 million-dollar contract, is set to make about $3 million per game for the next five years. This does not include bonuses or contract negotiations.
While these numbers are crazy, some players don’t feel it enough. 19% of players are against adding games to the NFL season, mainly because of concerns over pay and health.
Steelers DeShon Elliott has been perhaps the most outspoken about it.
DeShon Elliott Believes the NFL is Trying to Take Advantage of Players
It’s no secret that the NFL is quickly trending toward adding an 18th game. This makes sense in many ways, including having an equal number of home and away games, having more parody in the league, and potentially moving the Super Bowl to be played a year later, where it will fall on President’s Day Weekend (please, do this regardless!).
However, not everyone is on board with this. According to an ESPN report, safety Damontae Kazee was being interviewed about the potential of adding an 18th game. Kazee gave a very generic answer before Elliott chimed in, sharing, “I would [be against the additional game]. They don’t pay us enough!”
Elliott is currently on a two-year, $6 million contract, which is pretty standard for an average starting safety in the NFL.
But is he right? Should players be paid more if they play an extra game? Let’s explore this question.
Practice vs Games
There is some debate about whether practice time and training really contribute to an NFL salary. On one hand, the players put in countless hours during the offseason to train and prepare themselves for the actual games, so in that sense, they should be compensated. However, at the same time, the training won’t really matter if the player doesn’t perform well during the games; they won’t have a career.
When weighing everything, 99% of players’ pay depends on their performance. So, when looking at a 17 vs. 18-game season, adding the extra game only adds 5.6% more. And while players aren’t paid to train, they do spend a ton of time doing it, so really, when you consider all the work that they are putting in to be ready to play, adding an extra game really isn’t asking that much more.
Breaking Down a Contract
For the sake of this article, let’s look at DeShon Elliott’s statistics against his pay. Again, he is paid $3 million per season. Last year, he had 82 total tackles, one interception, one fumble recovery, and seven pass deflections.
That means that Elliott was paid $176,470 per game to average 4.8 tackles, .4 pass deflections, and .05 interceptions and fumble recoveries per game. This isn’t a knock on Elliott; he is a very solid NFL player, but when players come across saying they aren’t paid enough to play an extra game, maybe they should look at their own stat sheet and ask whether or not their actual production warrants them really complaining about not getting paid enough.
Also, how many of us aren’t asked to give 5.6% more than what our contract actually says? Sorry to break it to Elliott and the other 19% of NFL players who think it isn’t fair, but welcome to the real world.
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