"If incoming draft picks can wait before signing their NFL contracts, they can do the same before making a large financial expenditures once the player lockout is lifted.

That's the message the NFL Players Association will send to its newest members Tuesday during a rookie symposium in Bradenton, Fla.

A 90-minute seminar on financial management will stress that players be especially prudent in their early spending — something that wasn't the case with some members of previous rookie classes. Karl McDonnell, the chief operating officer of Strayer University, said rookies will be told to "take a year off from making any big financial decisions."

"These players have a tendency to get approached by a lot of people, family and friends," McDonnell told me and co-host Jim Miller on Sirius XM NFL Radio. "We've actually drafted a letter they can use that says, 'I'm going to take the next year getting used to being in the NFL. I'm not going to make any major commitments,' just to give them a little breathing room.""