NFL Players Don't Have Power of NBA Players

There has been much discussion concerning Russell Wilson's comments about being more involved in the Seahawks decision making as well as the demand by Deshaun Watson to be traded. Does this indicate newfound power by players in the NFL to have the impact NBA players have over their future? NBA Players like LeBron James or Kawhi Leonard have dictated the length of contracts, leading to a choice in free agency and they've also recruited or pushed trades for other players that they think give them a better chance to win. They have assembled players around them and created super teams. NFL players have never had that much power.

However, well run NFL franchises have always encouraged a free flow of information between a franchise quarterback, his coach, and the front office. They would be foolish not to get input from their field general on draftees, free agents, veterans, coaches and their system.

Former Cowboys’ quarterback Troy Aikman had an open door with owner Jerry Jones in the heyday of the Dallas Cowboys. Steve Young was always interactive with 49ers team President Carmen Policy. Russell Wilson has always had the magic slippers to facilitate input, the only surprise was that he stated this publicly instead of simply walking into the office of Coach Pete Carroll or General Manager John Schneider to express himself.

When it comes to a player demanding a trade, this has always been more effective in the behind-the-scenes discussions, rather than raising the prospect publicly. The worst way to fulfill a desire to be traded is to raise the spectre of the incumbent team having a disgruntled player on their hands who perhaps may refuse to play. Other teams become aware of the dissonance in the situation and as a result offer much less in trade compensation. The incumbent team is then faced with accepting a compensation package, which hurts the team and will be widely criticized or else they’ll continue to have to deal with an unhappy player. It is impossible to gauge the number of players who have requested trades over time, because normally a team hears the complaints of the quarterback and remedies them privately.

On the other hand, NBA superstars manipulate contract length to repeatedly lead to free agency. NFL superstars are rarely allowed to get close to free agency because their contracts are extended far before they would necessarily have that freedom. There has been a tradition of a franchise quarterback staying with the same team for most or all of his career. Players become comfortable and more prolific when they stay in the same offensive system, with players they have chemistry with. Quarterbacks put down roots in a community and can underestimate the value of stability and continuity. Additionally, in a sport where the ever-present possibility of career ending injury exists, a player who’s been offered significantly more money than he’s receiving in his current contract will opt to take that extension rather than venture into an uncertain future.

 NBA teams have just five starters, so two key players can transform a team, while it’s much more difficult in the NFL with a total of twenty-two starters on offense and defense. Deshaun Watson has not yet been traded, and nobody truly knows if Carson Wentz or Matthew Stafford actually asked for trades. A franchise quarterback is critical in contemporary football, but it is premature to conclude that they have the same power to switch teams or assemble super teams as free agents in the NBA do.