There’s a part in Jeff Benedict’s The Dynasty (not to be confused with the propaganda miniseries of the same name) where then-head coach Bill Parcells talks about how negotiating contract extensions used to go in the pre-salary cap era. Before the NFL instituted the salary cap in 1994, the process with Bill Parcells and his players’ agents went something like this:
-identify all the good players on your roster
-determine “are they still going to be good if/when I give them another contract” (which frequently just translates to “are you over 30 yet”)
-either the player’s agent or the team throws out a starting dollar figure
-both sides just do the “$50!