Unforeseen circumstances—a key injury, a bad official’s
call, a penalty at a inopportune moment—often decide games in the National
Football League. The college draft system
and revenue sharing agreements
tend to keep rosters filled with players of about equal ability.
Circumstances also can affect player compensation. Two
intriguing pay situations currently involve underemployed performers. One is a
star member of the Green Bay Packers; the other is a former Packers second-stringer.
The Packers are paying wide receiver Greg Jennings about $7
million this season for his work. Unfortunately, Jennings hasn’t been working very much. He was
on the sidelines recovering from a concussion much of the time teammates
prepared for the season. In the first regular game, Jennings suffered a groin injury. He hasn’t played much since, and a fourth of the
season is history.
Many observers think Jennings
is the best of a very talented group of Packers receivers. So what’s the
problem? Won’t they just wait until he gets healthy, rejoice when he’s back on
the field, and be happy to pay him another $7 or so for a full season of
activity next year? The problem is Jennings is in the last
year of his contract. He’ll be a free
agent next year.
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| Greg Jennings may take a hit in the wallet next year |
The circumstances are that the Packers have been busy
signing three of their other star players to hefty multi-year contracts. There
probably won’t be enough spare cash available to resign Jennings. As a star free agent, he normally
would sign with another team, probably with a long-term deal paying him even
more that his current $7 million a year. His recent injuries, however, make the
situation abnormal. They devalue his worth on the open market.
It’s unlikely Jennings
will be able to amass impressive statistics this year playing only a partial
schedule. NFL teams worry about committing a lot of money to players who seem
to be injury prone. Jennings’
recent history may place him in that category.
These circumstances could cost Jennings
millions of dollars in the future.
Matt Flynn probably has the best job in the league—at least
at the moment. Flynn served at a Packers’ backup quarterback for four years
starting in 2008. He played in only two complete regular season games during
that time. But he made a huge impression in the last one, the final game of the
2011 season when the Packers rested their regular quarterback for the
playoffs. Flynn threw six touchdown
passes against the Detroit Lions, and suddenly everyone decided he was a great
quarterback.
That incredible performance came at the end of his Green Bay contract, and
made him a hot item as a free agent. The
Packers decided a backup quarterback was not worth big money, and reluctantly
let Flynn go. After negotiating with
several teams, he signed a three-year deal with the Seattle Seahawks for $19.5
million including bonuses, and $10 million of that is guaranteed to be paid no
matter what.
The “what” came along quite unexpectedly. Seattle
drafted Russell Wilson, a University
of Wisconsin quarterback,
in the third round. Wilson
had performed brilliantly at Wisconsin,
but was considered too short to have a good chance to do well in the NFL. He
fooled everybody by beating Flynn out in training camp, and the ex-Packer once
again is a backup unthreatened by huge charging linemen intent on crushing
quarterbacks.
Flynn now draws his paychecks by taking only a few snaps in
practices. There he wears a red shirt to
ensure that no one will put dents in his $10 million body. On game days, he safely
walks the sideline with a clipboard and helps relay plays to Wilson. Flynn’s chances of grabbing another
high-paying contract next time around are not looking good.
Both Jennings
and Flynn are fine young men as far as I know, and I wish them well. In fact, Jennings is a local hero. He played college ball at Western Michigan
University, has a foundation that
funds worthwhile activities for youths in Kalamazoo,
and is a family man who serves as a positive role model for kids who need one.
Nevertheless, I shed no tears for professional football
players who face future cuts in compensation. As a group, they are some of the
most overpaid of those who make up that privileged one percent Americans are
becoming less and less enamored with.
