NFL on collision course with NFLPA over NBA-style rule to protect billionaire owners

The NFL is inching towards talks over a new Collective Bargaining Agreement.

Owners voted to approve the current deal, which runs through the 2030 season, in February 2020.

Getty

While there is plenty of time to get round the negotiating table, the league will want to avoid any whispers of a looming lockout or strike, like the months-long standoff seen in the WNBA, and it’s never too early to think about what could factor into a deal.

It’s widely believed that the NFL will push for an 18th regular-season game, given the international growth of the sport and more events taking place overseas.

The season was extended to 17 games in the last CBA, which would suggest adding one more next time around is a logical step.

But the NFL could be looking for other changes too.

NFL could consider NBA-style rule change in next CBA

According to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, there has already been ‘noise’ around a potential change to the salary cap formula.

That’s said to have come amid claims of ‘rising expenses’ that billionaire owners currently cover from their half of the revenue.

But another ‘possible wrinkle’ the league could try to add would relate to the amount of money that any single player can make.

Florio believes the NFL could follow the NBA‘s lead, and put a cap on contracts.

“It presumably would be similar to the NBA’s approach, with max contracts based on a predetermined formula,” he wrote Saturday.

“At a time when the market is the market, this approach would place an artificial limit on market value.”

Getty

Florio went on to suggest that a contract cap would be an ‘easy sell’ for a majority of NFL players.

Only the top stars make crazy money, and the less that goes to them, the more could go to everyone else.

Many of the NFL’s highest-paid stars, of course, are quarterbacks.

The likes of Jordan Love, Trevor Lawrence, Joe Burrow and Josh Allen have signed huge multi-year deals, and make $55 million each year.

Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott out-earns all of those names, with $60m in annual salary, while three-time Super Bowl champion Patrick Mahomes has one of the richest contracts in all of sports, having signed a 10-year, $450m deal in 2020.

It’s fair to say that all of those names above are players that their team can rely upon to win.

Getty

Getty

But a number of other QBs, including the likes of Tua Tagovailoa ($53.1m AAV) and Justin Herbert ($52.5m AAV), have arguably been over-paid in recent years.

A cap on player contracts would likely avoid that happening in future, and would mean teams like the Miami Dolphins are not put in a historically poor position if they choose to move on from their signal caller.

Changing the rules, though, could unsettle the biggest stars in the sport — and that might put the league on a collision course with the NFL Players Association (NFLPA).

Contract cap could push more big-name players into engaging with union

Florio reports that most of the NFL’s highest-paid superstars aren’t ‘as engaged in union matters as they could be, or arguably should be.’

NFL's Greatest......

Ranking the top 10......

Quarterbacks of all-time – Can anyone better Tom Brady?

Wide receivers of all-time – Does Randy Moss or Jerry Rice come out on top?

Running backs of all-time – Stacking Jim Brown, Barry Sanders, Walter Payton, Emmitt Smith and more

Tight ends of all-time – How does Travis Kelce compare?

But should they feel their hard-earned cash could be cut, they may begin to show more interest in taking on roles within the NFLPA.

As it stands, only one quarterback is on the union’s 11-member executive committee: Chicago Bears third-stringer Case Keenum, who has not played a regular-season game since 2023.

Only one of the NFL’s 32 teams currently have a QB listed as their player representative.

That’s the Houston Texans, with backup Davis Mills.

While most big-money quarterbacks don’t appear to massively engage in union matters right now, that could change if the NFL starts to mess with the money they make.

Stay up to date with the latest from the NFL across all platforms – follow our dedicated talkSPORT USA Facebook page and subscribe to our talkSPORT USA YouTube channel for all the news, exclusives, interviews and more.