By Harry King
LITTLE ROCK — Rest easy Arkansas football fans, there is no valid reason for quarterback Ryan Mallett to enter the 2010 NFL draft.
It will be at least 2012 before any sort of rookie wage scale is in place in the NFL, according to the ESPN man with a slew of sources. In fact, playing another year for Bobby Petrino could mean as much as $50 million for Mallett, says Chris Mortensen.
A redshirt sophomore, Mallett is not ready for the NFL. But, some who dream of what Arkansas might be with Mallett deduced his early departure from his eligibility and from national experts gushing about his unequaled arm.
At this point, Mortensen believes Mallett might go anywhere from the second round to the second day. Pat White of West Virginia was the first quarterback taken in the second round this year and he signed a four-year contract with Miami worth about $4.5 million, including $2.4 million guaranteed.
Matthew Stafford, the No. 1 pick out of Georgia this year, received about $42 million. Mallett could be that man in 2011 when the No. 1 pick will be looking at about $45 million, Mortensen said.
Mortensen recently addressed the rookie wage scale on Bo Mattingly’s radio show and agreed to expound on that issue and Mallett in an exchange of e-mails.
The players’ union does not embrace such a scale, he said, and it is not a core issue, even for management. When, and if, he said, “It will be aimed at the top 15-to-18 slots that many NFL management types believe has gotten out of whack with salaries and guaranteed money.”
The goal of the players’ union is to have a new labor agreement in place by March, he said. “But there are some complex issues … and it will be a surprise if something is in place,” he said.
Meanwhile, both sides are aware that a number of agents are attempting to persuade underclassmen to leave school early by citing the threat of a wage scale in 2011. “Any player or parent who is hearing this from an agent should be very skeptical and I’d say even consider eliminating that agent from the selection process …,” he said. “If an agent is willing to deceive now on this topic, he cannot be a trusted business representative.”
In his job, Mortensen has talked Mallett with several NFL personnel people who are proven talent evaluators and he is convinced Mallett “very likely would be disappointed if he decided to come out after this year.”
“He needs more starts,” he said. “He needs to mature, physically and emotionally. There’s no reason to fear a rookie wage scale and there’s little concern about getting injured and sliding in a subsequent draft.”
Quarterback Sam Bradford, who returned to Oklahoma and sat out most of the year with a bad shoulder, would not have been the first pick last year, Mortensen said, because teams were concerned about his physical maturity and his lack of experience playing under center. Bradford might be a top-10 pick in 2010, he said, partly because he has had another year to mature.
“I would say it should be an easy decision for Ryan to stay in school,” he said. “If he puts another year behind him in terms of on- and off-field performance, he will be making himself a significant amount of money. And, let’s face it, working another year under Petrino with receivers who are only going to get better, he has a chance to separate himself from every quarterback in this country.”
(Tomorrow: More with Mortensen on what it will take for Mallett to get ready for the NFL.)
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Harry King is sports columnist for Stephens Media’s Arkansas News Bureau. His e-mail address is hking@arkansasnews.com.
