On Friday, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell described the current rookie pay system as ridiculous.

On Sunday, NFL Executive Director Gene Upshaw returned the favor.

“I think it’s ridiculous that he would make such a comment,” Upshaw told the league’s incoming rookies at the league’s annual symposium for first year players, per Adam Schefter of NFL Network.

“We’re not in the position to try to take money from anyone,” Upshaw said.  “Our job is to make sure you get as much [money] as you’re entitled to and not be restricted by anything else.  We have never agreed to such a system.  I don’t see us agreeing to such a system in the future.”

But Upshaw apparently is ignoring the comments of various NFL veterans, including NFLPA President Kevin Mawae.

“As a guy who has been in the league for 14 now going on 15 years and being around other veteran guys, for a young guy to get paid that kind of money and never steps foot on an NFL football field, it’s a little disheartening to think of,” Mawae told ESPN Radio’s Colin Cowherd last month.  “It makes it tough for a guy who’s proven himself to say ‘I want that kind of money’ when the owners, all they’re going to say is, ‘Well, you weren’t a first-round pick.’”

Upshaw has yet to articulate a compelling reason for keeping the current system.  The best argument came to us from an agent with no history of representing the players at the top of the draft.  As the agent explained it, those ridiculous contracts can help a very good player get an even better second contract, which then helps veterans who become eligible for new deals.

For example, the contract given to Cardinals receiver Larry Fitzgerald, which included a ridiculous cap number in 2008 and 2009, forced the team to sign him to a four-year, $40 million deal.

Though Fitzgerald is a great player, he’s not a $10 million-per-year wideout.  The value of his second deal will provide a solid basement for receivers who will be eligible for big money in 2009 and beyond.

But for every Fitzgerald, there’s an Akili Smith or a Joey Harrington, who gets big money and does nothing to help raise the bar at the position via an even bigger veteran contract.   Surely, there has to be a way to account for the 50-percent failure rate of high-end draft picks, and direct that money to the NFL players who have earned that pay through sweat and blood.