NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has expressed in the past an interest in reeling in the pay given to the handful of rookies selected at the top of the draft.

He reiterated his beliefs in this regard on Friday.

“There’s something wrong about the system,” Goodell said, according to the Associated Press. “The money should go to people who perform.”

Goodell offered his remarks during a question-and-answer session at the end of a week-long sports symposium at the Chautauqua Institution.

“He doesn’t have to play a down in the NFL and he already has his money,” Goodell said in reference to Jake Long, who was the No. 1 overall pick in the draft and signed a five-year, $57.75 million contract.  “Now, with the economics where they are, the consequences if you don’t evaluate that player, you can lose a significant amount of money.  And that money is not going to players that are performing.  It’s going to a player that never makes it in the NFL.  And I think that’s ridiculous.”

In Long’s case, he could earn every penny of the deal, and become a Hall of Famer.  But there have been many high picks in the past who haven’t provided much of a return on the investment.

Goodell wants to lower the pay given to rookies, but to allow them to renegotiate when they have performed on the field.  Our suggestion would be to cap only the first ten or so deals, and replace the current windfall with incentives tied to performance.

It’s not an issue for most of the rookies, since most of them are paid minimum salaries with, generally speaking, an appropriate signing bonus.  The problem is at the very top of the draft, where the values of the deals are increasing at a rate significantly in excess of the growth of the salary cap.