JockStocks: Could something fishy be happening in Cleveland?

A little background is in order. Quinn was drafted by the Browns after the team traded for a second first-round pick in the 2007 NFL draft. Quinn signed a hefty contract, but hasn't produced. His contract had a number of what are known as "escalators" built in, a common practice in the NFL. Quinn's escalator states that if he got 70% of the snaps this season, it would trigger $10.9 million in future escalators. That is a lot of money and, in the NFL where the salary cap is in play, is a significant hit to a team's salary cap -- especially for a team trying to rebuild with a new coach.

Mangini contends that he did not know about these escalators, but some stories have surfaced suggesting that isn't the case. In fact, in this question-and-answer article, Browns' owner Randy Lerner was asked if Quinn's benching was impacted by his contract incentives. Lerner said that the incentives had no contribution to the benching - but as ProFootBallTalk.com points out, his answer was less than convincing. It certainly appears that both Lerner and Mangini are trying to play coy about this situation (some may even say dumb).

I am not going to play judge and jury in this situation, but I want to point out that (if Quinn was benched to avoid paying him) it could set up a rather sticky situation. I don't necessarily want to debate the merits of the contracts in the NFL, but I am concerned that the Cleveland situation (again, if it is true) could lead to a lot of problems for the team's ownership. I mean, if you don't want to pay a player what you agreed to pay him, cut said player. Of course, savvy agents have worked guaranteed pay into the contracts, so cutting a player is often not an option. There is something unethical about not playing a player in order to not pay him part of the contract that the team agreed to -- I am no expert, but if you don't intend to pay the player, don't sign him to the contract.

Yes, I understand there is an unknown to signing rookies to a high contract. This situation is why the NFL needs to adopt a rookie pay scale; they have attempted to bring some sort of contract structure to paying first-round picks with their slotting system, but it is not enough. To avoid paying a lot of money for a bust (and Quinn can't be considered a bust yet), a rookie salary cap is the way to go. It only makes sense folks. Why pay an unproven player a lot of money to play in a league that may prove to be too tough for him? I know this won't make me very popular in the Drew Rosenhaus or NFL Player camps, but I don't think they are reading this anyway. Put a cap on how much you can pay a rookie, put it on a sliding scale by round picked -- problem solved. That way we will not have the situation that we have surfacing in Cleveland.