Want Cowboys To Become NFL's Yankees?

Posted by jellis at 5/16/2011 3:55 PM CDT on truebluefanclub.com


An interesting question for you guys - one that I think I know the answer to, but hey, maybe you'll prove me wrong.

In his Monday Morning Quarterback column, SI.com's Peter King brings up a scenario suggested to him by NBC broadcaster and former Bengals receiver Chris Collinsworth, who is thinking ahead to the "endgame" of this lockout and the legal battle that's going along with it.

Collinsworth's hypothesis, as explained by King, is as follows:

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"In Brady v. the NFL, the players argue for a new way of doing football business. Longtime players' attorney Jeffrey Kessler would like to see the draft abolished; in fact, as Daniel Kaplan of Sports Business Journal has reported, Kessler would like to see no player-acquisition rules. No draft. Free agency for every unsigned player. What would the NFL look like if every player and every team were allowed to make its own business decisions that would, of course, be in the best interests of each?

Say the TV contracts were abolished and teams could make their own deals. 'If the Cowboys could sell their rights, maybe they'd get $500 million a year, and maybe the Bengals would get $50 [million] ... There'd be nothing to stop Jones, with a monster TV network, from having a $250-million payroll. Similar to baseball, the bottom-feeder NFL teams would struggle. Dallas might have five minimum-salary special-teamers. Cincinnati might have 20, and some might start.

The question is: Would that make the game better?"

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From the perspective of the owners, there is no way to quarantee what kind of system would be in place following the end of litigation, so this idea of a totally free market may never come to pass.

But say it did, and your Cowboys could afford to buy any player they wanted, just like the New York Yankees in baseball. They would contend for a Super Bowl just about every season, but the parity everyone seems to love about the NFL would be no more.

Would you like that?

There would be no Yankees in that situation because coaching is more important to the NFL while no player is as important or can be stockpiled like pitchers in MLB. The NFC East will be like the SEC but as long as team size is limited there will always be talent to go around. I would prefer to keep it as is because we will not become the Yankees and we will not be in the Super Bowl nearly as often as some may think.

If would allow a team with a horrific GM to simply out spend his mistakes.

That's what helps the Yankees so much. If they make a mistake on a high priced free agent, they can simply write it off as a loss and try again. While most of the teams in MLB have to live with that mistake for several seasons. It's much easier to GM that way when there aren't such severe consequences for your actions.

Obviously we would fare better with no cap.

Fare better? Sure, we would probably make the playoffs more often. The problem is the number of positions in the NFL and the diversity of talent on the field. The Yankees can employ the five best starting pitchers because each will get a chance to start, but the Cowboys will have to settle for the best QB while numbers 2-5 go to other teams who can compete. We could compile the best lines in the league but the second best lines wouldn't be that much of a step down from what we would have.

Just look at how competitive the SEC is between themselves. Did anyone see Auburn as the National Champs during the preseason? AP had them ranked 22 in their preseason poll. The group of teams that are already at the top will get stronger while the bottom feeders will fall off because they cannot retain the talent they used to draft.

Well I agree that it wouldn't be a Yankees situation. I don't know that we'd even have the highest payroll. My money would be on the Redskins.

I'm just saying, if you're just concerned about the state of the Cowboys, root for no cap.

No cap is exactly what the players want. Average player salary will rise as teams compete to sign the biggest names. Average MLB salaries are twice as high as NFL salaries.