Russell Wilson May Or May Not Deserve The Money He’s Asking For, But As An NFL Player … He’ll Earn It

In the wake of the NBA’s not-so-silent auction season, I’ve realized something:  Football players don’t make enough money.

Yes, professional athletes make a lot of money, and some more than others.  But after watching NBA owners recently handing out money like Billy Ray Valentine from Trading Places, coupled with the less-than-100% effort seen on any given night on the hardwood of an NBA arena of your choice, I’m ready to advocate for even my least favorite NFL superstars making the league’s top dollar.

Russell Wilson wants $25 million a year.  Dez Bryant just got $70 million over 5 years, with $45 million of it guaranteed.  But while by any estimation the Bryant numbers are “real,” one of the league’s top-tier receiver’s dollars pale in comparison to some of the NBA’s run-of-the-mill ballers.

Reggie Jackson (Not the Major League Baseball Hall Of Famer), a high-end role player/back-up point guard, just got $80 million from the Detroit Pistons.  The New York Knicks just gave Robin Lopez, a journeyman center, $54 million over 4 years.  And the Dallas Mavericks paid Wesley Mathews, a 31-year-old wing player still recovering from a torn Achilles tendon, $70 million over that same 4-year span.  All guaranteed.

That’s right, this isn’t the NFL where players have to get as much as possible up front for fear of the real possibility that they’ll be cut prior to end of their contract.  This is the National Basketball Association, where all deals are etched in stone and more-so, all dollars are guaranteed barring a severe breach of a preexisting clause.

Seriously?  NFL players can’t take games off, the game just doesn’t allow for it.  They put themselves and their futures at risk by simply playing the game and statistically, they have the shortest average career span of any of the major sports this country provides.  Yet in spite of that, and the fact that they play easily this country’s most popular sport, they’re compensated the worst by comparison and are appreciated the least.

Yes, NFL rosters consist of 53 players opposed to just 15 in the NBA.  But were talking about America’s most popular sport and the very one that generated more than $7 billion in revenue last year, doling-out $226 million to each individual franchise.  To the contrary, the NBA reported revenue of $4.8 billion for the 2013/14 season, more than 30% less than the NFL.

So knowing what they make in relation to NBA players, coupled with the well documented health risks NFL players incur … why the outrage over anything they may or may not make, in contrast to the relative disinterest in truly average players breaking the bank with the NBA franchise near you?

I may not love Dez Bryant, but he’ll earn that money.  I may not think much of Cam Newton, but he’ll earn his as well.  And I may not think Russell Wilson deserves what he’ll eventually get from the Seattle Seahawks, but I know he’ll earn it with what he sacrifices on the field, opposed to what second-tier NBA journeymen do on the backend of career ending contracts.

So the next time you see the next inevitable $100 million contract signed by an NFL player, look at the upfront money and realize that’s probably all he’ll ever see.  Remember what he’ll likely have to do to make that money.  And remember that Reggie Jackson, a player who’s never even been a regular starter in the NBA, will likely make more money than that same NFL superstar … and he doesn’t even have a candy bar name for him.