I know this may not be Jets news, but I do believe this to be extremely significant to this draft and possibly for future drafts. Rumor has it that the Miami Dolphins are engaging in contract negotiations with Michigan offensive tackle Jake Long, and that if both sides can agree to a deal, Long will be the first pick in the 2008 draft.

Peter King of SI.com reports that negotiations won’t drag out until the draft. According to King, Long is the only player the Dolphins are actively negotiating with and the Dolphins have imposed a deadline for Long to accept the deal. If Long doesn’t accept by the deadline, the Dolphins will try to find a player such as Ohio State’s Vernon Gholston to accept a contract favorable to the team. If we learned one thing from Parcells over the years, it’s that he is a major ego-maniac. Striking this deal for less will go down in history as a major achievement the likes of which has not been seen to date.

What stands in the way of this happening are the money hungry agents brokering these deals. On one hand, these agents do not want to take less and on the other they will be forever known as the agent that gave in paving the way for the entire rookie class to make less money throughout. As a Jets fan you gotta love this move. As a Football fan, you gotta love this move, as an Owner you gotta LOVE this move.

First off it forces the #1 pick to sign right away and not hold out throughout training camp and ultimately wasting their rookie season while at the same time hurting the team. Once the 1st pick signs, a possible cascade effect could take place where the #2 & #3 picks might also agree to a pre-draft deal. This draft Parcells has some leverage in selecting other players not like the mess we had with Meshawn when he refused to sign early and we still ended up selecting him. These rookies have too much leverage as it stands and make too much money on pure potential.

Hopefully one day the NFL will get it right and impose some hard numbers based on the spot you were selected in. If Parcells can somehow pull this off, other teams might no longer have to endure holdouts while they wait for the #1 pick to sign. But as a fan of the game, we all know that once the #1 pick signs early, the #2 will hold out for what last year’s #2 made and the vicious cycle will continue.