We are definitely living through a player empowerment era across many professional sports leagues right now. And it’s about time the labor force for these billion-dollar businesses started getting a little more leverage. Take Brock Purdy, for instance, a soon-to-be fourth-year QB who recently signed a mega-deal with the San Francisco 49ers. Surely, that got former player Julian Edelman wishing this is how things were when he was still playing.
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The 49ers really lucked out with Purdy, who covered up some other mistakes made by the franchise’s brass (cough, Trey Lance, cough cough) by turning into a quality starter despite being the final pick of the 2022 draft. Purdy has now signed a five-year deal that now ranks fifth in the NFL in total value ($265 million), seventh in AAV ($53 million), and eighth in practical guaranteed money ($182.55 million).
Purdy is the 11th QB in the last three years to sign a deal worth $50 million a year or more, and the 13th QB with $150 million or more in guaranteed money. Those guarantees, which were very uncommon in the NFL just a decade or two ago, are a big reason why old school guys like Edelman believe contract negotiations are much more “player friendly” nowadays.
So, how did the former wideout negotiate his payday back in the day? During an episode of Games with Names, Edelman detailed just that.
“Contract negotiations in the NFL and contract negotiations I had with the New England Patriots are completely different. And they’ve also changed, which rightfully they should. It’s been way more player friendly.”
While Purdy and the 49ers were able to agree to terms with relatively no fuss and a lot of respect for one another, that was not how things went for guys like Edelman in the early 2010s. Bill Belichick was surely a tough negotiator.
“I can remember when I got hurt in 2012, the Patriots offered me a contract before the season to sign, and I won the starting job going into that year. So they were trying to lock me in, for like some league minimum deal with like a week signing bonus. Which I was like, ‘I would rather go to free agency,'” Edelman recalled.
“So we played out the year, and I broke my foot. I remember going back after that, and I was sitting there thinking, I was like, ‘Man, well, at least I’m gonna get that sh*tty little contract they offered me.'”
But unfortunately for Edelman, the Patriots were not going to stick to their preseason offer. As would often happen back then, an injury meant a massive pay decrease. Unlike now, when guys like Kirk Cousins can come off a torn Achilles and get $180 million,
“And they said that’s how we felt then, this is how we feel now. And it was a completely different number… with a lot less money. Because I was hurt, which I understood. Nowadays, guys tear their ACLs and they’re getting paid the biggest contract in the history of the game, but that was never like that [in our time],” Edelman added.
“When you’re negotiating with them, they’re saying, we’re not paying you for what you’ve done, we’re paying you for what we project you to do.”
In fact, the Patriots ended up lowballing Edelman, offering him just $765k for one season in 2013. Edelman, true to form, used it as motivation.
He completed his first 1,000-yard season that year and earned himself a payday (four-year, $17 million deal) that seemed solid at the time but pales in comparison to what WR1s are making today. At least Edelman’s getting that podcast money now, though.
