10-09-2017, 03:21 PM
(10-09-2017, 02:47 PM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: Actually, it isn't any different in other sports as far as I know. If a player in MLB makes the 25 man roster, gets injured, and spends the whole season on the 60-day DL, that still counts as a year of service time, even if they only played a game or two.
Example being Homer Bailey only pitched 34 total innings in '15 and '16 combined, but he got two full years of service time.
Really, my main point was it is a big point of frustration of mine how people keep handing out 2nd, 3rd, and 4th "rookie" seasons as they see fit to explain away underperforming. Billings might not be 100% due to recovering from the injury, but I refuse to accept anyone saying it is his rookie year.
The Homer example would work better if he were still on rookie status.
A player in MLB will accrue a year of service if he's in MLB for 170 days. MLB seasons last around 180. So basically the rookie would have to be on the roster from the start and be on the roster all season to get a service year in.
In Billings' case, he was hurt before the season so he wouldn't have been "on the roster" if this were an MLB style thing. Homer has a major league deal without options. So they had no choice but to roster him by rule.
It's his first year playing in the NFL. Getting nitpicky on the term rookie is your call. Whatever. It's irrelevant. It all means the same thing except in the eyes of ROY voters.
