Dynasty League Football Forum

A post in another thread about marshawn retiring made me think of this. A comment was made that if marshawn retires then unretires do the Seahawks hold his rights??

Back in 86 I was admittedly not paying as much attention to football as I was watching thundercats being only 6 years old so here's a disclaimer that all I know of the situation is from internet research and am still confused

Bo Jackson gets drafted #1 overall by Tampa
Bo never signs saying he doesn't like where the organization is headed
Bo gets surprisingly drafted in the 7th round by the raiders
Raiders get a highly productive back for a few years until an injury details his career
Tampa gets zero compensation

Can anyone here shed some light on what happened and could this happen now? It seems to me that if Bo decides to play football it should be for the bucs or no one. They drafted rights to that player

Theoretically if the #1 overall pick next year does not like where he is drafted absent a bizarre manning/rivers scenario if he doesn't sign and sit out a year they can just get drafted again???

I thought of this when someone mention in another thread that if marshawn retires he can't unretire and play for anyone but the hawks as they contractually hold his rights. Would a retirement which I'm sure has official documentation from the NFLPA not nullify the remaining terms of the contract??

I wasn't alive in 86 so im not 100% on the situation, but I think i can shed light on the rule. Tampa drafted him and then he decided to go play baseball and was drafted the following year by the raiders.

It can definitely happen again, almost happened with Michael Crabtree. He sat out until week 10 and if he had re-entered the draft the following year the 9ers would have gotten no compensation for the #9 overall they used on him.

As far as retiring and coming back I'm not sure but I think Lynch is only under contract for this year.

So when you draft a player ,.... All you're acquiring is The rights to make a deal within one calendar year? After which a player gets drafted again? You'd think that a team drafting a player should have rights to that player within that league. It is the NFL draft. If a guy goes and plays in the NBA or whatever if he chooses to go to NFL he should have to honor the rights of who drafted them. At the very least demand a trade for his rights so some sort of compensation could be made.

MaverickIW771 wrote:So when you draft a player ,.... All you're acquiring is The rights to make a deal within one calendar year?

Precisely. Not allowing a team to have exclusive rights to a player for the rest of their lives is really the only leverage that rookies have. Crabtree was looked at as a greedy prick for holding out and threatening to go into the next years draft, but it was the only way he could get what he felt he deserved for putting his body and mental health at risk.

I think the current system is the only way it's fair otherwise the plays would have no leverage and the owner's would pocket even more money that they don't deserve.

Retiring is different, it doesn't get you out of a contract. Carson Palmer wanted to try this a few years ago before going to Oakland, if you file retirement papers not only are you required to miss an entire season but your current contract is extended should you return.