I'm not real savvy on the subject, so I have a question for those of you who are. From what I understand, if you are going to be a Free Agent during this offseason (and MANY players are, reportedly more than there ever have been), you cannot sign a contract, and therefore cannot get paid. My question is this: for those who are under contract, will they still get paid what their contract says, regardless if there is a lockout or not?

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I believe it would depend largely on how the contracts are structured. For example, roster bonuses that pay a player a certain sum if he's on the roster after a certain date would no doubt be paid. Workout bonuses, however, probably wouldn't be, since players will be banned from team property and thus will not be able to workout. Performance incentives won't be paid out, since players won't be able to attain the benchmarks. During the regular season, players are paid on a weekly (game-by-game) basis. Because they won't be playing, they won't be receiving their game checks. That's why a lot of pundits believe a deal would be done no later than a couple of weeks into the season, since that is when it would start hurting the players' pocketbooks in earnest.

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First off, thank you very much for taking the time to answer this for me. Secondly, you say that they get paid per week, but does the contract not say that they get paid so much per season as opposed to per week, meaning that whether they play or not, those portions of the contract (which would obviously be the major part of the contract) be paid out?

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Not trying to be 'that guy', but this stuff/information is why I like college football better.

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Just wait, there will be a CBA in college soon enough, the way things are going ;)

I can't get into college football because the longest any player can stay (and play, not counting redshirt) at a team is 4 years, and it really isn't too often that they play the entire 4 yrs. I just don't have enough of it in me (whatever it is) to devote myself to a team with a rotating cast. Not the same way as the NFL, anyhow.

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I love the rotating cast. Because to me, it's about the 'M' on the helmet and the name on the front of the jersey that I care about. The name on the back of the jersey is just a nice bonus.

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That makes sense, and that is why the Packers are more fun to watch, because the "bonus" is always there (unless they get traded 😞 )

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