Football Season Is Coming …

NFL teams have reported to their Training Camps; just as a robin redbreast is seen as a harbinger of Spring, NFL Training Camps are a sign that football season is imminent.  So, let me spend some time today dealing with some football issues other than on field accomplishments/failures.

Reports say that the NFL and the NFLPA are having “serious discussions” related to expanding the schedule from 17 games to 18 games.  Just a few years ago when the schedule expanded from 16 games to 17 games, the vote by the union members to adopt the rule was by a razor-thin margin; many players said that the wear and tear on their bodies by adding a game to the regular season schedule would have deleterious effects when their playing days were over.

At the time, more players voted for expansion than against it probably looking at the expanded TV revenue that would come to the league and therefore would be added to the annual salary cap figures for the 32 teams.  I suspect there will be a similar balancing act in the minds of the players this time around.

The motivation for the owners to seek expansion is the same now as it was before; more games to offer to the various presentation platforms equates to more revenue flowing into the league and half of that added revenue (approximately) goes directly into the pockets of the owners.

So, how to accommodate differing perspectives here:

• If you add an 18^th game, get rid of one of the Exhibition Games.  That addresses the scheduling issues facing teams but not necessarily the “wear-and-tear” issue because most of the players who will make the various teams and play significant numbers of snaps in the regular season only make cameo appearances in Exhibition Games if the play in them at all.
• If you add an 18^th game, give each team 2 BYE Weeks during the regular season.  That would tend to stretch the complete NFL schedule and if there is a need to restrain it to the length that exists now, eliminate the “dead week” between the Conference Championship Games and the Super Bowl.  Otherwise, just start a week earlier than at present or kick the Super Bowl game one week later into February.
• In fact, if you add an 18^th game, I would be happy to see any or all of those accommodations above instituted by the league.

According to reports, when the NFLPA members ratified the expansion of the schedule from 16 games to 17 games, the owners agreed to increase the percentage of “national revenues” that would go to the players in the form of salary cap calculations.  That bump in the percentage going to players was from 47% to 48.5% of “national revenues”.  I would expect that the players would seek another uptick in their share of added revenue if these talks get down to serious negotiations.

Moving on …  People who cover Training Camps for the NFL have a difficult job in the sense that the sorts of things that they can write or talk about do not vary much from year to year or camp to camp.  One mainstay storyline at the time of the year is when Joe Flabeetz is under contract to a team, but Joe is not happy with his recompense and either wants a new contract or a trade to another team who is willing to give him a new contract.  This year, one of the players in this situation is Niners’ WR, Brandon Aiyuk.  He and the Niners have not been able to agree on a contract extension at a significantly higher salary nor have the Niners made any real attempt to trade Aiyuk.  He is not in a happy place about now.

Here is the contract situation.  As a first-round pick in 2020, Aiyuk is under contract this year as part of the fifth-year option that is part of every first-round pick’s “rookie contract”.  The finances involved in that option year are formulaic and this year Brandon Aiyuk would make $14.124 million to play WR for the Niners.  He thinks he deserves to be paid more than that because he believes he is comparable to some of the WRs in the league who have gotten deals well north of $20M per year. Brandon Aiyuk is indeed a very good WR; I don’t know if I agree that he is as good as some of the WRs who have set the new market cap for the position, but I agree he is underpaid.

Having said that, Brandon Aiyuk is under contract and that contract runs for one more year; if he wants to earn $14.124 million to play football, he will do it with the Niners unless the Niners choose to trade him or cut him.  That sounds harsh, but it is reality.  Brandon Aiyuk can fuss and fume until the Twelfth of Never, but Brandon Aiyuk cannot trade Brandon Aiyuk; only the Niners can trade him and if the Niners decide that they want/need him for the 2024 schedule, then that is where Aiyuk will have to play to make any money playing football.

The “good news” for Aiyuk is that if he plays for the Niners in 2024 – – banking about $785K per game for doing so – – and if he plays to a level that approximates his perception of his talents, then he will be an unrestricted free agent in 2025 – – OR – – the Niners will have to use the franchise tag on him meaning he will get paid a guaranteed salary comparable to the top WRs in the league which seems to be his objective.

I cannot see the Niners trading Aiyuk at this point; the Niners made it to the Super Bowl last year and hope to repeat that this year.  What most suggested trade offers include are future draft picks which could be fair compensation but of no use to the Niners in 2024.  If I am correct, then the best thing for Aiyuk to do is to swallow hard and play just as hard for the Niners in 2024 so that he does not paint himself as a malcontent which is not a way to increase his desirability around the league.  The only “good news” here is that people writing about Training Camp stuff will get a few more bites from the apple on this saga.

Finally, closing words today from H. L. Mencken:

“If a politician found he had cannibals among his constituents, he would promise them missionaries for dinner.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………