Fifteen years ago, the NFL was experiencing one specific financial problem. The Collective Bargaining Agreement allowed the top incoming players to squeeze the teams that drafted them into contracts that were spiraling out of control.
It had gotten so bad that, when the Dolphins prepared to use the No. 1 overall pick in 2008, there were widespread rumors that they’d deliberately let the clock expire and wait to make a pick at a lower spot. (Miami eventually picked tackle Jake Long.)
Enter the expiration of the CBA. One of the things the NFL wanted as of 2011 was a rookie wage scale. And the NFL got the restriction it craved on the value of the deals given to new players.
The argument was simple. The prior system allowed busts to take millions out of the system. Those millions could go instead to established player.
Of course, the rookie wage scale also prevented those big contracts from becoming part of the leverage for veterans to get better deals, by pointing to the average annual salary given to a high draft pick at the same position.
But it was far easier to get the current members of the union to pick the pockets of players who weren’t yet in it. Even if it indirectly impacted them. Making the argument even easier was the inherent zero-sum game of the salary cap. If more money goes to a hotshot who has never worn an NFL helmet, less money is available to everyone else.
It worked. And here’s the latest evidence of it. Fourteen years later, with the salary cap skyrocketing from $120.375 million to $279.2 million per team, the value of the contract given to the No. 1 overall pick still hasn’t caught the value of the No. 1 overall pick from 2010, the last year with no rookie wage scale.
In 2010, Rams quarterback Sam Bradford signed a six-year, $78 million contract, with a maximum value of $86 million and $50 million guaranteed.
In 2025, Titans quarterback Cam Ward signed a four-year, fully-guaranteed $48 million contract.
Bradford’s base deal paid $13 million per year. Ward’s pays $12 million annually. Bradford got more in guarantees, although it’s likely that the $50 million wasn’t fully guaranteed. (The reporting on and analysis of contracts in 2010 didn’t delve into such details the way it does now.)
Yes, Ward is committed for only four years, not six. But the Titans have a fifth-year option, so the contract puts him on the market (or gets him franchise tagged) only one year sooner.
Here’s the broader point. It has taken nearly 15 years to get the No. 1 overall pick to the contract the No. 1 overall pick received in 2010. Even though the salary cap has increased since 2011 by 131.9 percent.
Which means that the rookie wage scale was a massive win for the NFL and its owners.
Which also shows that, when a sports league (or cabal or cartel) finds itself in an undesirable financial predicament, it should be expected to figure out the situation on its own — without pissing and moaning for Congressional intervention.
The Titans signed quarterback Cam Ward to his rookie contract, the team announced Wednesday.
Ward, the No. 1 overall pick, becomes the seventh player from the team’s nine-player draft class to sign with the team.
The Titans previously reached deals with safety Kevin Winston Jr. (3rd round), tight end Gunnar Helm (fourth round), receiver Elic Ayomanor (4th round), guard Jackson Slater (5th round), cornerback Marcus Harris (6th round) and running back Kalel Mullings (6th round).
Outside linebacker Oluwafemi Oladejo (second round) and receiver Chimere Dike (fourth round) are the team’s only remaining unsigned draft picks.
Ward is participating in the team’s offseason program after taking part in the team’s rookie minicamp earlier this month.
He takes over in Tennessee after playing 57 college games at Incarnate Word (2020-21), Washington State (2022-23) and the University of Miami (2024).
Last season at Miami, Ward was named first-team All-American and was a Heisman finalist after throwing for 4,313 yards and 39 touchdowns. He led the Hurricanes to their first 10-win season since 2017.
There has now been reporting on all the teams that declined to vote to ban the notorious tush push.
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Browns, Jaguars, Dolphins, Saints, and Titans voted with the Eagles, Ravens, Patriots, Jets, and Lions against the proposal that would have banned the play.
Of those 10 teams, the Saints are particularly notable as they employ former Philadelphia offensive coordinator Kellen Moore as their new head coach, and Moore called that play plenty of times en route to a Super Bowl victory last season.
Cleveland, Jacksonville, Miami, and Tennessee do not have the same direct connections to Philadelphia, though Browns G.M. Andrew Berry did work in Philadelphia’s front office and his twin brother, Adam, is the Eagles’ VP of football operations and strategy.
Notably, the Cardinals and Colts — who also have former Eagles coordinators as head coaches — did vote to ban the play.
Either way, the tush push will be in use for at least another season.
As Black Bart once said, “OK, Ralphie. You win this time, but we’ll be back.”
The anti-tush push forces inevitably will return with another effort to remove the Eagles’ signature play from the rulebook.
Wednesday’s effort failed, by only two votes. With 24 required, the final tally was 22-10.
Multiple reports indicated that the Ravens, Patriots, Jets, and Lions were among the 10 “nay” votes. We’re told that the Titans, Jaguars, and Browns also were opposed to the proposal. Throw in the Eagles, and that’s eight of the 10.
The vote ends the matter for 2025. It undoubtedly will be back, as soon as next March. Especially if/when the anti-tush push forces can bring evidence to the table tangible evidence (real or imagined) of a safety risk.
Until the play is eliminated, all teams other than the Eagles have two ways of dealing with the situation: (1) figure out how to stop it; and/or (2) figure out how to run it.
The third strategy is to create the kind of spectacle that results in the same ugliness that happened in the NFC Championship — and which seemed to light the fuse for the league’s failed effort to dump the play.
The Titans are set to have a new look on offense after drafting quarterback Cam Ward with the first overall pick, but that’s not the only change that head coach Brian Callahan has in mind.
Running back Tony Pollard had a career-high 260 carries during his first season with the team and Callahan said on Tuesday that he thinks that Pollard “was battling the second half of the year quite a bit.” Callahan said he plabns to find more ways to work Tyjae Spears, Julius Chestnut, and sixth-round pick Kalel Mullings into the mix this fall.
“I think in a perfect world, it’s a healthier division of labor,” Callahan said, via the team’s website. “I think he ended up carrying the ball a lot. He was our most productive running back. And then Tyjae had some injuries early, too. So, he ended up playing a lot early and then Tyjae sort of came on as the year went on further. So, I like really both of those players a lot. I think we can do a better job of managing that load so they both play a little more evenly and allows us to maybe have a spot for a third back between Julius and Kalel, some heavier style back and runner. So hopefully that division of labor gets a little more evenly distributed so he doesn’t have to take the brunt of it. And we can get 17 games out of all those guys at their best.”
Pollard also spoke to reporters on Tuesday and said he was over the ankle issues that troubled him late last season. He called the idea of divvying up the workload “ideal” and said he is onboard for “whatever way we can contribute to the success of the team.”
