With the advent of the rookie wage scale, there was also a designated period of three years where teams and players could not renegotiate. Did Lacy's disappointing third season cost him millions?
You may recall the events surrounding the 2011 NFL Draft. It was a weird world where teams could call players on the day they were drafted, but were not allowed to start any contract negotiations until the Collective Bargaining Agreement was finalized. Furthermore, the CBA that was agreed upon that summer created a rookie wage scale for the first time in the NFL. There would be no more giant contracts to unproven rookies; any drafted rookie would have a four year contract and there would be a special fifth year team option for first round selections.