Getty Images

The 2019 regular season ends Sunday. That’s obviously significant for playoff positioning, and also for determining the final two teams with tickets to the postseason party. It’s noteworthy for another more obscure reason.

Upon the conclusion of the third regular season since the 2017 draft, all players picked in the 2017 draft become eligible for second contracts. That includes, to name a few, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson, Panthers running back Christian McCaffrey, Vikings running back Dalvin Cook, Saints running back Alvin Kamara, and Packers running back Aaron Jones.

All but one of those players listed above will be playing at least one more game, and perhaps up to four, before the offseason truly arrives. Which means that they’ll be paid a relative pittance for high-intensity, all-or-nothing games — $28,000 for the wild-card road teams, $31,000 for the wild-card home teams, $31,000 for the divisional round, $56,000 for the conference championship, $62,000 for Super Bowl loser, and $124,000 for Super Bowl winner.

While those game checks aren’t bad for players who are playing under slotted rookie deals, they’re a far cry from the per-game payout that will come under the second contracts. And they’ll be putting those second contracts at risk, up to four times, before the offseason arrives.

Eventually, someone who has played great in his first three years will make it known (directly, through his agent, or via leaks from unnamed sources) that he wants his second contract before the postseason begins following his third regular season. Eventually, maybe on those players would even consider threatening to not play in the postseason game.

That latter is unlikely in the classic sense; no one will be walking out the door as the chase for a championship begins. But if a guy is banged up — if he has an injury that easily would justify not playing (especially in this age of hypersensitivity to player health and safety), how hard would it be to err on the side of not taking the risk of playing injured when the injury risk has not been removed from the player via that second contract?

It’s a fascinating dynamic that has been hiding in plain sight ever since the ink dried on the 2011 CBA, even if it’s never been an issue. Look at the names listed above; if it’s ever going to be an issue, this could be the year that it is.

Or, perhaps more accurately, this could be the year that one or more of those key players who have finished three regular seasons ends up with a huge deal before his team’s first postseason game kicks off.

However it plays out, it’s an issue that should have been an issue from the moment the 2011 CBA quietly shifted the second-contract window from two years to three. Players don’t get paid the way they used to upon entering the league for fear that some won’t earn it. Those who earn it deserve their second contracts as soon as possible.

For players drafted in 2017 whose teams will survive Week 17, ASAP means before their first playoff game.