I'm not necessarily sure that the big boys always make out the best in the draft. In this case, the Chargers are widely beleived to be one of the more poorly run franchises in the NFL. In to other recent drafts the Chargers picked Ryan Leaf, who turned out to be a major bust, and also could have had the rights to Mike Vick, but traded those away to the Falcons. The main enforcer of parity in the NFL is the salary cap, which was briefly alluded to in the article. One other thing to keep in mind when dealing with NFL contracts is that the money is not guaranteed, meaning that in all likelihood an NFL player will only ever earn a fraction of what he is announced to be able to earn. I think one example this year was a player being offered a bonus if he wins four super bowls in his first four years (highly unlikely). Professional football has no equivalent to the second and third divisions, so relegation doesn't seem too practical, but I have always thought that it might be a good idea in baseball, if the minor leagues weren't completely controlled by Major League Baseball. Of course, you could make the arguement that the teams of the old American Football League were promoted en masse when that league merged with the NFL. And this is what I really wanted to point out: Eli Manning is a graduate of Ole Miss, the University of Mississippi, not Missouri.
Show me the money
I'm not necessarily sure that the big boys always make out the best in the draft. In this case, the Chargers are widely beleived to be one of the more poorly run franchises in the NFL. In to other recent drafts the Chargers picked Ryan Leaf, who turned out to be a major bust, and also could have had the rights to Mike Vick, but traded those away to the Falcons. The main enforcer of parity in the NFL is the salary cap, which was briefly alluded to in the article. One other thing to keep in mind when dealing with NFL contracts is that the money is not guaranteed, meaning that in all likelihood an NFL player will only ever earn a fraction of what he is announced to be able to earn. I think one example this year was a player being offered a bonus if he wins four super bowls in his first four years (highly unlikely). Professional football has no equivalent to the second and third divisions, so relegation doesn't seem too practical, but I have always thought that it might be a good idea in baseball, if the minor leagues weren't completely controlled by Major League Baseball. Of course, you could make the arguement that the teams of the old American Football League were promoted en masse when that league merged with the NFL. And this is what I really wanted to point out: Eli Manning is a graduate of Ole Miss, the University of Mississippi, not Missouri.