Quote
cool_hand_luke
This. Absolutely. The rookie deals have been brutal for rookies and vets. Rookies make much less money than comparable veterans. Veterans lose their jobs to underpaid rookies. Heck, veteran free agents are gladly not resigned by teams so that they can gain compensatory draft picks. The most valuable currency in football is cap space not draft picks or hell even players.
If you look at successful teams, one overriding common trait is having multiple/many players performing above the $ value of their contract. This is rookies performing well, mid level free agents playing at a high level, stars in the fourth or later years or a big deal that is now relatively cheap.
I would expect big changes in the new CBA.
Remember the new CBA put the present rookie contract systme in place because the contracts for rookies were escalating out of control. That was one of the endless complaints about Bradford--he came into the league with the highest rookie contract ever (and the next year was the new CBA).