ESPN analyst rebukes NFL teams for not budging on guarantees: 'It all seems stupid to me'

As long as society is still standing it seems unthinkable that the NFL would ever fold. It is after all a billion dollar business, and no amount of personal selfishness is worth getting in the way of all that money. That said, if it ever happens it might be a scenario similar to one we're seeing play out right now with the league's second-round draft picks.

To make a long story short, the Houston Texans gave their second-rounder a league-first fully-guaranteed contract, and now all the other second-rounders who were picked this year want the same. That includes two Seattle Seahawks rookies: Nick Emmanwori and Elijah Arroyo.

Emmanwori's contrct seems to be the source of the holdup according to NFL insiders, and Seattle's refusal to give him a fully-guaraneed deal could mean that he'll hold out of training camp. Having not signed yet, the Seahawks couldn't even punish him for not showing up.

The whole thing seems like an unforced error caused by greed that's unparralleled in any other sport. The NFL is after all the only place where contracts are fully one-sided by nature, no matter how many years are on the deal any player can get cut at basically any time if a team feels like it. Meanwhile, if a player wants out of his deal it's practically impossible barring a trade.

ESPN analyst Bill Barnwell says the whole thing sounds stupid to him, speaking in appearance on Seattle Sports radio recently.

“At the end of the day, it all seems to stupid to me... These are guys who are already on bargain deals relative to what veterans make. I know they don’t all hit, but the ones who do hit are such bargains that it’s worth it. NFL teams pay millions of dollars when they get an opportunity to trade for a second, third, fourth-round pick as part of a salary dump, so clearly they see it as being significantly valuable. Guaranteeing a little more money to get your guy in camp seems like a really logical and simple thing for me.”

Ask us and we're always going to take the side of the players who we actually tune in to watch on Sundays as opposed to the comically greedy billionaire owners of these teams, who feast on public handouts to build their stadiums.

Second-round picks should be fully guaranteed. So should third-round picks, fourth-round picks, undrafted free agents and everybdy else in the league. That's just not the way business is conducted in the NFL, though. Barnwell is right to call it stupid - and some day that same stupidity may be what brings the whole facade down.