Watkins: NFL players are underpaid, 2014 draft class will change market
Sammy Watkins is the latest NFL star to suggest he and his peers are underpaid.
He expects to be part of the group that changes that.
Following the eye-opening deals handed out in NBA free agency, including Stephen Curry's record-setting $201-million deal, several NFL players have tweeted about their contract envy.
Watkins weighed in Sunday morning:
We gotta get paid more I'm pretty sure 2014 class will change the market
- King Me (@sammywatkins) July 2, 2017
He went on to say he is bothered by the fact the NFL generates more revenue than the NBA, but its biggest stars earn less:
Exactly make more than NBA and they players make way more something not adding up lol
- King Me (@sammywatkins) July 2, 2017
While things aren't necessarily as simple as Watkins is suggesting (there are 53 players to pay on an NFL roster compared to only 15 on an NBA roster), it's easy to see why players like Watkins feel underpaid. The 24-year-old is due to make just over $3 million this season, the final year of his rookie deal.
The Buffalo Bills declined the fifth-year option in Watkins' contract earlier this offseason, largely because he can't seem to stay healthy, which means he'll will be an unrestricted free agent after the 2017 campaign.
Though many of Watkins' first-round peers from the 2014 draft have had their fifth-year options exercised and won't hit free agency until 2019 (including Odell Beckham Jr. and Mike Evans), Watkins apparently believes this cohort will ultimately be paid more in line with what he feels NFL players are worth.
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