Comments on: Luck’s return to Stanford adds another highlight to 2011 slate

By: 1historian

1historian — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 14:41:08 +0000

I’m happy to see Luck staying but I think Harbaugh’s leaving is not good for Stanford. I don’t think he’ll be that good on the pro level.
It’ll be interesting to see whom Stanford hires.

By: papadec

papadec — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 06:48:37 +0000

It seems to me that Andrew Luck would rather try to win the Heismann than play for the Panthers, in 2011. I can’t blame him for that. The money will always be there – let the NFL issues fall into place.

By: bradwins

bradwins — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 21:17:33 +0000

The way that it will apply “retroactively” is that the draft is the last event of the league year. After the draft the CBA expires and nobody will be signed to any new contracts until there is a CBA in place. So when the incoming rookies do sign it will be subject to the terms of the yet-to-be negotiated CBA.

(*From what I understand.)

By: bradwins

bradwins — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 21:14:48 +0000

I stand corrected. Harbaugh to the Niners. If I were him, I would have tried to win the BCS Championship this year, but hey you can’t knock a guy for taking $25M while he can get it.

By: whisk3yjack

whisk3yjack — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 21:10:51 +0000

This story on ESPN offers the best explanation I’ve seen yet: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/commentary/news/story?page=kreidler/110107

By: whisk3yjack

whisk3yjack — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 20:16:58 +0000

Thanks for the clarification. This is the first I’d heard that the new rookie wage scale will apply retroactively. I wonder how that will work out in practice.

I have to agree with Keith and the general buzz that Harbaugh is bolting for either the 49ers or the Broncos. Stanford’s best unit is its offensive line– they were a big part of Toby Gerhardt’s domination last year– and they’re losing 3 of 5 starters to graduation there. Since they’ll be rebuilding their O-line, I don’t think a national championship run is really in the cards. Stanford likely peaked this year, so Harbaugh is out.

By: bradwins

bradwins — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 17:30:15 +0000

* rookie wage “scale”, not wage “school”, obviously.

By: bradwins

bradwins — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 17:28:29 +0000

1. whisk3yjack: Contracts for players selected in this year’s draft are expected to be subject to the (presumed) rookie wage school. Obviously nobody can say with any real certainty since that will be ultimately be dictated by a CBA that is not anywhere close to fully negotiated at the moment. However, NFL teams are operating under that assumption, from what I understand, and I think it is unlikely that they will finalize an agreement in which that is not the case.

2. Keith: I would not assume that “it’s all but decided that Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh is leaving for the NFL.” I think there is a good chance he is at Stanford for one more season. Why not take a shot at winning a national championship and then going to the NFL the following season? A national championship beats the heck out of a 4-12 rebuilding year. In fact, there may not even be NFL football next year. The money will still be there for him next January.

By: tlndma

tlndma — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 16:02:56 +0000

My question to Luck would be, “how many of your offensive linemen are leaving?”. I thought I heard during their bowl game that they were all seniors or 5th year players. If he has a veteran line returning ok, if not, this might not be the wise move.

By: wrpupkis

wrpupkis — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 14:03:24 +0000

That is correct, the NFL only pays when players are engaged in team activities. So a contract offer of $XX million is worthless unless there is guarantee money and/or the player participates in team activities.

By: whisk3yjack

whisk3yjack — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 23:23:22 +0000

Am I missing something? If Luck enters the draft this year, there are multiple teams willing to offer him an absurd contract; no doubt somewhere in the league of Sam Bradford’s guaranteed $50 million.

If he waits a year, he probably enters the NFL under the new rookie salary cap, leaving tens of millions on the table. Does being “kept from any team activities” allow an NFL team to not pay a player?

I’m all for enjoying one’s college experience; as you put it, as long as the money will be there after senior year, why not come back? But in this case, he looks to be leaving a fortune on the table that won’t be waiting for him when he finally enters the NFL.