NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell Says A Rookie Salary Cap Is 'Critical'

Commissioner Roger Goodell spoke at the NFL's rookie symposium this week and reiterated his desire for a rookie salary cap.

A new rookie compensation system is critical.  It’s important that we have a system that is designed to reward players who succeed on an NFL field.  When a player is paid a lot of money and doesn’t make it in the NFL and that money leaves the system, that’s not good for anybody.  We need to reward performance on the field.

It's a strange place to bring this topic up because the rookies are the only ones who benefit from such a windfall of money at the top of the draft.

\Why this has never been done previously is beyond me. This is an issue controlled by the league and the union. The league wants the price tag for these top-end rookies to fall. The NFLPA represents active players, who want the rookies to stop being paid so much so that more money can come to them.

This won't be easy to get done but it's a good start that both sides want something to happen.