re: L5U is to blame...

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Aundray Bruce would like to sit down and have a pizza and discuss this with you.

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Aundray Bruce did not have a 61 million dollar contract. Jemarcus Russell's bust led to a change in the collective bargaining agreement between the NFL and the NFLPA. This is why Russell is a bigger bust than Ryan Leaf. He fricked up so bad that the players had to pretty much go, "Yep. This is fricked up!! We agree to give up money."

Rookies had no voice in the discussions, which they shouldn't have. Actually it was probably pretty easy for the veterans in the league to agree with the NFL on the matter since they had been getting shite on contract wise so the team's could pony up the dough to pay for shite rookies like Russell.

Now rookies technically don't even need to have an agent in order to sign their rookie deals. Matt Elam didn't. The reason why is that as soon as their name is called in the draft they know exactly how money they are going to get over 4 years. All rookie deals are 4 years with the exception of teams have a 5th year option on first round players. Due to Russell, players now have to pay their dues and perform in order to earn their money once they hit free agency after 4 years.