My thinking is that a second contract for all players should come earlier - maybe in two years max instead of four.
And the vet players themselves are the ones who bargained for what they have now: no outlandish contracts for unproven rookies, more money for
US. Now the running backs are discovering thay they are getting the short end of a stick that they collectively bargained for. DeMaurice should have thought it through.
How to structure the terms and limits for both sides in that second contract would need to br carefully thought out but it could be doable in a way that paid players who shined early-on while not disrupting the team's interest in maintaining some level of continuity.
As to the question of what happens to Akers? Unless he outshines the sun, I don't see much opportunity for him to score big in either free agency or on another contract.
