NEW YORK -- The NFL wants to cut almost 60 per cent of guaranteed pay for first-round draft picks, lock them in for five years and divert the savings to veterans salaries and benefits. More than US$525 million went to first-rounders in guaranteed payments in 2010. The league wants to decrease that figure by $300 million, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press. The leagues offer would free a total of more than $1.2 billion over four years through 2015 -- $37.5 million per team overall -- and slow the growth rate of guaranteed payments to first-rounders, which the documents show increased by 233 per cent from 2000-10. Such quarterback busts as JaMarcus Russell ($32 million), Matt Leinart ($12.9 million), David Carr ($15 million) and Joey Harrington ($13.9 million) received huge guaranteed payments that totalled $367 million in the last 10 drafts. Of course, Eli Manning ($24 million), Philip Rivers ($17.9 million) and Matt Ryan ($34.7 million) have not done too badly for their teams. Guaranteed money paid to top 10 selections since 2000 reached nearly $2 billion. Guaranteed payments for all first-rounders were at $3.5 billion. The average career length of a first-round pick since 1993 is 9.3 years. Eagles president Joe Banner said the original aim of the draft is being compromised by the expenses associated with signing top picks. "The whole concept of the draft and ordering of the picks is to maintain competitive balance in the league," Banner said. "Now teams get top picks who have become so expensive and theres the risk you can miss, and it makes the ability to trade in and out of those spots almost impossible. It can become a disadvantage to be in one of the top spots." The owners, of course, are the ones offering the huge guaranteed bonuses. During talks for a new collective bargaining agreement, the league also proposed eliminating holdouts by reducing the maximum allowable salary if a rookie isnt signed when training camp begins. The NFL also suggested eliminating holdouts for all veterans by prohibiting renegotiations of contracts if a player holds out in the pre-season. The compensation system would not include a rookie wage scale and would allow for individual contract negotiations. Contracts would have a fixed length of four years for players chosen in the second through seventh rounds and would not affect salaries for those rounds, the league said. "From a fairness standpoint, the simple concept to drive this should be that the players who contribute the most to the league should get the most money," Banner said. "What this system does is ensures players playing well in the NFL and bringing in fans and driving TV (ratings) will get the money that went to players who turned out not to be so good. And that is good for everyone." The NFL Players Association was not immediately available for comment. Several agents said the proposals place unfair limitations on players entering the league. "Five years and reduced pay is basically restricting players," said Ben Dogra, whose clients include Patrick Willis and Sam Bradford. "Roughly 68 per cent of the NFL is comprised of players with five years or less of NFL experience. "Even players from essentially picks 11 to 32 in the first round are good financial deals for the teams. If a player becomes a starter or an integral part of the team under the current system, the NFL teams have the player under a rookie deal that is favourable to the team." Peter Schaffer, who represents Joshua Cribbs and Hakeem Nicks, called such a system "scouting insurance" for teams making bad selections high in the draft. "It also makes the rookies more valuable when you reduce the amount you are paying to the young guy," Schaffer said. "This will eliminate the veteran middle class because teams can have younger players who are making less and are under fixed contracts." A modified salary system for rookies was a negotiating point for a new CBA until talks broke off March 11 and the NFLPA dissolved as a union. The owners locked out the players hours later. The two sides are scheduled for court-mandated mediation in Minneapolis beginning Thursday. wholesale nfl jerseys . TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun reports on ESPN.com that the league has proposed to have free agency start on July 10 instead of the traditional July 1 opening day. nfl jerseys china . -- Leave it to Bo Ryan to find fault with No. http://www.wholesalejerseychinastore.com/ . The 28th-ranked Bulgarian saved three set points in the first before taking the lead, and Djokovic then appeared to hurt his right ankle when trailing 4-2 in the second. The Serbian player slipped on the baseline and winced in pain, then immediately called for a trainer and took a lengthy break to get treatment. cheap jerseys . The Eskimos (5-8) lost all five games they played in the month, including Fridays 39-15 setback to the Calgary Stampeders (8-5). cheap nfl jerseys .P. Howell. According to MLB.com, the Dodgers and Howell are closing in on a two-year contract with a vesting option for a third.SHANGHAI, China -- Rafael Nadal was ousted in the third round of the Shanghai Masters by Germanys Florian Mayer, 7-6 (5), 6-3, the second consecutive year hes failed to reach the quarter-finals at the tournament. The 15th-seeded German pressured Nadal at the net throughout the match, winning 21 of his 29 approaches. Nadal saved two set points while serving at 4-5 in the first set, but then gave away several crucial points in the tiebreaker, which Mayer clinched with an ace. The German got the first break of the match at 3-3 in the second set when Nadal hit a shot into the top of the net. Mayer converted another break on match point, running down a drop shot and flicking it past Nadal at the net. The top-seeded Spaniard lost in the third round in Shanghai last year to Austrias Jurgen Melzer, just a few weeks after winning his first U.S. Open title. Its also just the second time in 16 tournaments this year that he has failed to make the quarter-finals. In August, he fell in the second round of the Canadian Open to Croatias Ivan Dodig. Defending champion Andy Murray, meanwhile, held off a late rally by Switzerlands Stanislas Wawrinka to advance to the quarter-finals with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 victory. After dropping the second set, the second-seeded Scot broke Wawrinka twice to race out to a 5-0 lead in the third. But Wawrinka battled back to take the next three games before Murray finally closed it out. "The first set I was up 3-0, two breaks, pretty quickly, and I went up 5-0 in the third set. Both sets got a little bit closer than maybe they needed to be," Murray said. Third-seeded David Ferrer also advanced after saving three match points against Juan Carlos Ferrero in a 1-6, 7-5, 6-2 win and Andy Roddick moved on with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Spains Nicolas Almagro. Frances Gilles Simon, the No. 8 seed, was beaten by Matthew Ebden, a qualifier from Australia ranked 124th, 6-2, 2-6, 7-6 (8). Ebden, who had only won eight matches on the ATP tour befoore Shanghai, closed it out on his fifth match point.dddddddddddd Ebden plays Murray next for a spot in the semifinals. "It will be a tough match," Murray said. "Hes obviously just coming off the best win of his career, so hell be confident." Ferrer was outplayed by his fellow Spaniard from the start, dropping his serve three times in the opening set and then facing three match points while serving at 4-5 in the second. The third-seeded Spaniard hit two booming serves and a forehand winner to stay in the match, then broke a deflated Ferrero in the next game on his way to taking the set and the match. "It was amazing, no?" said Ferrer, who secured his place in the ATP Tour World Finals with the victory. "I had three match balls down. I (served) very good in important moments. After this game I make the break up very fast." Ferrer next plays the 10th-seeded Roddick, who had a far easier time, hitting 11 aces and 23 winners to beat the seventh-seeded Almagro. Roddick is trying to finish his season on a positive note after struggling with injuries, crashing out in the third round of Wimbledon and losing the No. 1 American ranking to Mardy Fish. After reaching the quarter-finals of the U.S. Open last month, he fell in the first round of the China Open in Beijing and bristled at a question from a reporter about whether he was contemplating retirement. His play against Almagro, ranked 11th in the world, suggested retirement may be some way off: he won 91 per cent of points on his first serve -- 32 of 35 points -- and captured 10 of 12 points at net. He never faced a break point. Alexandr Dolgopolov, the 12th seed from Ukraine, dropped the first set against Australian teenager Bernard Tomic, then reeled off 12 of the last 13 games to win, 5-7, 6-1, 6-0. And Kei Nishikori continued his good run -- he beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the second round -- by beating Colombias Santiago Giraldo 7-6 (6), 4-6, 6-3. cheap nfl jerseys wholesale jerseys ' ' '