Feb 21, 2013; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Carolina Panthers coach Ron Rivera speaks during a press conference during the 2013 NFL Combine at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports
We’ve all heard of the “one and done” college players, but now that trend seems to be making it’s way into the NFL. The market for free agent players have been down and players have been taking smaller and shorter contracts than they would’ve liked. Carolina Panthers head coach Ron Rivera went on WSCR in Chicago to talk about the new trend in the NFL.
“The biggest thing that a lot of people ended up doing is just kind of wading through the first two days of free agency and let all the high-priced players sign,” Rivera said, via Sports Radio Interviews. “And then you start to see the prices drop, and then what happened was people started signing to one-year deals.”
The flat cap era we’re in has forced NFL teams to get creative, restructuring deals in the offseason to clear cap space or cutting players they’d prefer to keep.
“That’s kind of going to be the trend for a while, it looks like, based on the way the salary cap is. And the money structure that a lot of guys are expecting these big deals, and right now only the elite guys are getting them. So everybody else is just going to have to [wait] for a year or two and then try to earn their next big paycheck.”