There is a limited pool of money available for rookie draft picks. A relatively small percentage of total NFL projected revenues (referred to as Designated Gross Revenues or DGR) is set aside by the League each year to then be divided up among the individual teams based upon that team’s respective draft pick inventory. Many agents and their client’s hold out until the beginning of training camp or even later, mistakenly thinking that this will result in a better deal or, perhaps, as a result of lack of preparation or just having too many clients. Experience has shown, however, that it may make much more sense to get in and get AS MUCH of a limited pie AS POSSIBLE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE! NFL.com Senior Analyst Pat Kirwan picked up on this in a story dated June 5, 2005:

“….maybe the idea of waiting is more myth than fact when it comes to holding out for a better deal in July or August:

Player No. 1: Signed as a first-round selection on June 28. His signing bonus was better than the 2 players drafted ahead of him, and not one player drafted after him had a better yearly average.

Player Nos. 2 and 3: Both were drafted in the 2nd round and signed in June. One player was drafted in the middle of the round and had a better signing bonus than any player drafted 6 spots earlier with the same length of contract, and not one player drafted after him got a better bonus or had a better 1st year salary. The player selected near the bottom of the 2nd round who inked his deal in June got a better signing bonus than 2 players drafted earlier than him who waited an extra month to sign.

Player No. 4: Selected in the 3rd round and decided May was time enough to put his name on the dotted line. He grabbed a little over $100,000 more in signing bonus money than 2 players drafted ahead of him that waited an extra month and still signed a deal for the same number of years….”

So, in most cases, it makes better sense to get your money early, report to camp, relentlessly study the playbook and film, focus on your playing career, and GET DOWN TO BUSINESS!! Your window of opportunity is limited. Take advantage of it and give your agent some leverage for negotiating perhaps the most important contract of your professional and financial life…the 2nd contract…a few years down the road.

You are well aware of the Annual NFL Draft held in New York City each spring. What you may not be so familiar with is the Supplemental Draft generally held in the summer, after the minicamps and OTA’s have ended. The Supplemental Draft has 7 rounds just like the NFL Draft and each team has the right to make a selection in each of those rounds. The team selecting a player will forfeit their NFL draft pick the following year for the round in which the player was selected in the Supplemental Draft. Note that there have been less than 40 players selected in the Supplemental Drafts since they began in 1977.

The Supplemental Draft provides a venue for players in a variety of untenable situations. For example, if a player is declared academically ineligible to play college football, he may choose between sitting out spring football, continuing to attend classes in hopes of improving his scholastic situation and regaining his eligibility, or he may just choose to leave school and enter the Supplemental Draft. Or if a player just missed the deadline for the NFL Draft, the Supplemental Draft would provide that player with a second bite at the apple.

In any event, as mentioned above, only a relative handful of players have actually been drafted in the Supplemental Draft and it has not produced much in the way of NFL stars. However, you might recognize a few names of supplemental draftees: Bernie Kosar (QB-Cleveland), Brian Bosworth (LB-Seattle), Rob Moore (WR-NY Jets).

Tuition Assistance Plan
Effective April 1, 2002, the NFL will pay up to $15,000 per year of your tuition, fees and books to any player/student that attends an “eligible educational institution” and achieves at least a “C” average. So, if you haven’t already done so, go back and finish your degree….on the NFL!

Entrepreneurship Workshop
Want to buy an Automobile Dealership? How about a Sports Bar? What about a Tax Exempt Organization or a Mortgage Lending Company for professional athletes? Now the NFL and the NFL Players Association have developed a program in conjunction with the Wharton School of Business and the Harvard Business School designed not only to inform players of available business opportunities but also to teach interested players the nuts and bolts of how to set up and operate those businesses profitably. You have an opportunity to learn under the tutelage of nationally acclaimed professors. You also are assigned a mentor who has been successful at the type of business you are interested in so that you don’t have to “reinvent the wheel” and can learn the tricks of the trade from business people that have already “figured it out”.