The primary aim of the NFL’s year-old rookie pay system was to limit the amount of guaranteed money in the contracts of players selected early in the draft. It immediately became clear when the new system went into effect last summer that it was accomplishing that goal. Top draft picks signed deals worth much less than the contracts of prized rookies in previous years.

But the system also was designed to streamline contract talks between NFL teams and their rookies, making those deals much less complex and negotiations simpler. It has taken longer to find out whether that would happen, but the quick pace of signings that followed last month’s draft strongly suggests that rookie contract negotiations indeed are much less complicated.

Through Monday, 124 players chosen in the NFL draft had signed contracts with their teams. Before the current rookie pay system went into effect last July, the number of draft picks who signed each year by the end of May often was in single digits to the low teens. Two years ago, 13 draft choices signed contracts in May.

The Washington Redskins’ added one of the last missing pieces to their offense by agreeing to terms on a one-year deal with veteran running back Tim Hightower.

That adds Hightower to a running back mix that features Roy Helu, Evan Royster and sixth-rounder Alfred Morris. Let the competition begin.

The team will hold its first round of organized team activities next week. They will run on May 21, 23 and 24th, May 29-31 and June 4-7. The team’s mandatory minicamp takes place June 11-14, and then comes a lull in the action until late July, when training camp kicks off.

Many starting jobs appear to be decided, but some remain up for grabs. Sure, it’s early and a lot could – and likely will – change between now and the start of the season. But let’s take a look at the projected starting lineups and possible position battles on offense and defense.

The Washington Redskins and running back Tim Hightower have agreed to terms on a deal to bring the four-year veteran back for another season.

Hightower announced the news on his twitter account Sunday night, saying “I’m baaaaaaaack,” and a person with knowledge of the situation confirmed the agreement between the two sides indeed has been reached.

The executive director of the NFL Referees Association said Friday he is hopeful the organization and the league will complete a new labor deal before the upcoming season.

The current labor agreement between the two sides expires at the end of this month. The league has taken a first step toward identifying possible replacement officials who would work games if an accord is not completed.

But Tim Millis, a former NFL game official now in charge of the referees association, said there are no insurmountable issues in the negotiations. He is optimistic a deal will be struck.

“We’ll continue until we get it done,” Millis said in a telephone interview. “Contrary to what I’ve read in some places, we are not at an impasse. Sometimes it takes shorter. Sometimes it takes longer. It’s part of the process.”

On Wednesday May 2, TMZ reported a police investigation of a shooting at Junior Seau’s home in Oceanside, CA. It was later confirmed that Junior Seau had committed suicide.

Soon, many people in the football community voiced their (unsolicited) opinions about what could cause a man like Junior, who seemed to have everything, to take his own life. Was it chronic traumatic encephalopathy, the degenerative brain disease associated with repeated blows to the head? Depression? Dealing with the emotional difficulties of NFL player transition?

Whatever you believe about Junior’s death, we can all agree that his style of play and charisma elevated an entire southern California football community for two decades.

When I called a friend at the NFLPA to tell him about Junior, he told me that Stacy Robinson, the former New York Giants’ wide receiver, was in hospice care after with multiple myeloma, a cancer of the blood. Stacy, who was diagnosed in 2009, lost his fight with cancer six days later.

News of his death was obscured by Seau’s suicide, a more sensational story. I’ve become increasingly uneasy about the story that never gets told. When guys like Stacy (or Roman Oben) have played their last down, there’s no blurb on the bottom of ESPN. Nor should there be.

But that doesn’t mean we don’t leave legacies of our own. Stacy certainly did.

We go on with our lives, trying to recreate ourselves and figure out our plan for the next phase of our lives, not just our careers. The NFL isn’t a career at all. It’s an opportunity, one that has been famously described as “Not For Long”.