NFL: NFLPA: 2021 strike almost a certainty

Tony Romo

Registered User
Sep 25, 2011
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I mean the players got bent over the last couple of times. They are mad at a lot of things. Weed, Rog, Contracts etc. this was almost a certainty.
 

Blackhawkswincup

RIP Fugu
Jun 24, 2007
186,842
20,299
Chicagoland
If a strike happens the fans will side with owners

Also last time players threatened a lockout the war chest proved not enough as players started to complain they needed $$$. Several had to take out high interest loans if I recall correctly
 

Street Hawk

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Feb 18, 2003
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I mean the players got bent over the last couple of times. They are mad at a lot of things. Weed, Rog, Contracts etc. this was almost a certainty.

Roger - he's just doing what the CBA allows him in terms of the rulings for player conduct, per the owners. It doesn't sound like the owners want to give up the disciplinary clause in the CBA. I can see Roger giving up the power to someone selected by the PA and owners. But, the owners will still have that power to discipline the players. So, it's not like the players will avoid discipline for personal conduct issues.

Weed - Personally, I don't care. That can be negotiated. Not a big deal.

Contracts - To me, this is the big one. Lots that the players can fix here.
1) Limit Franchise Tag to 1 time only against a player. No reason that Cousins should be franchised twice by Washington for example.
2) Rookie Contracts - should be 3 years for all players, down from 4 years. No team options for rookies to extend 1st rounders by another season. Allows guys like Donald, Beckham, etc. to get paid if they prove themselves, which these 2 have done. That's a mistake the older players made in the last CBA. Owners were willing to move on from vets to get cheaper talent.

Only way for the players to get anything from the owners is to prepare ahead of time for it. If they don't save money over these couple of years, they don't stand a chance.
 

Big Poppa Puck

HF's Villain
Dec 8, 2009
20,530
932
D-Boss' Dungeon
If a strike happens the fans will side with owners

Also last time players threatened a lockout the war chest proved not enough as players started to complain they needed $$$. Several had to take out high interest loans if I recall correctly

The fans are going to side with whoever doesn't 'officially' cause it. If it's a strike they'll side with the owners, if it's a lockout they'll side with the players.
 
Sep 19, 2008
372,088
23,945
There too much money for a strike to happen in this era

This is just posturing and talk and we'll see if the NFLPA come off this crazy talk in the next few years. But this isn't like the NHL and NHLPA here. Football is BIG. Big big big. Believe me. There is no way they would cancel a season or portions of it due to labor issues.
 

BackToTheBrierePatch

Nope not today.
Feb 19, 2003
65,865
24,272
Concord, New Hampshire
I really don't know how the players can go to war with the owners and talk tough with DeMaurice Smith as leader of the NFLPA. he and the rest of the PA caved when they realized they did not want to lose a game check.
Any idea that talking away full power from Goodell being on the table is laughable. If they want that on the table they are going to be disappointed.
IF the players go in playing hardball and are willing to miss games, I think at the beginning they may side with the owners. But if the owners want to throw scabs out there then to me then it could get ugly for everyone. Because the owners are greedy ******** too. Do you think they would lower prices for scab football? HA I doubt it.
 

Street Hawk

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Feb 18, 2003
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I really don't know how the players can go to war with the owners and talk tough with DeMaurice Smith as leader of the NFLPA. he and the rest of the PA caved when they realized they did not want to lose a game check.
Any idea that talking away full power from Goodell being on the table is laughable. If they want that on the table they are going to be disappointed.
IF the players go in playing hardball and are willing to miss games, I think at the beginning they may side with the owners. But if the owners want to throw scabs out there then to me then it could get ugly for everyone. Because the owners are greedy ******** too. Do you think they would lower prices for scab football? HA I doubt it.

There are simply too many tiers when it comes to NFL player earnings for them to maintain a united front against the owners. And the owners know this.

Take any team's 53 man roster and break down the players who will be earning $5 million or more in salary in the coming season.

Seattle - On offence, it is Wilson, Baldwin, Joekel, Graham. On D, Sherman, Thomas, Chancellor, Lane, Wright, Wagner, Avril, Bennett. That is 12 players out of 52. So, about 22% of the roster and they make close to around 70% of the Seahawk's cap space. 22 starters, plus 2 kickers, which leaves 29 backups getting under 15% of the pie.

You can't keep that kind inequality among the rank and file together through a protracted negotiation against 32 billionaires.

And among the 53 man roster, how many get into trouble for off field issues for violence, alcohol, drugs, etc? Maybe 3 per team? Under 10% for sure of all players. So, you think the other 90% want to miss game checks over that. So, that stuff is at the back of the line for them. What the 90% want is better salaries and leverage in negotiations when it comes to contracts.

Do I think NFL players will get fully guaranteed contracts? No, I don't. At least they won't get 5 year deals guaranteed. It would change the structure of how teams operate and they will hand out 1-3 year deals max to non-QBs.

To me, players should aim for the following:
1) Get all rookie contracts down to 3 years, with no team options for an additional year. Why? Young players can get paid once they prove themselves, which is fair to everyone. Like Donald for the Ram and Beckham for the Giants, but due to the 5th year option, they still have 2 more seasons on their current deals, yet they have proven themselves over their first 3 seasons. Players on their 4 year rookie deals make under $1 million if drafted after the 1st round, so it's cheaper than going with a plus 30 year old vet.
2) Eliminate the use of multiple franchise tags for each player. Cousins should not have been franchised again by Washington for the 2nd straight season. It hurts those like Bell of the Steelers because of the wear and tear of his position.
3) With more and more research coming on the serious impact of head injuries, player's health have to be a major point for both sides. Players need to get their money and then get out before they do too much damage to their brains. More players can walk away at age 30 after their 2nd contracts, if their rookie deals end at age 25 (3 year deals), then they sign their big money 2nd contract for 4-5 years and then walk away.
4) Thursday night games, if the NFL keeps them, I don't understand why they don't structure the schedule to set up those games between teams who are coming off a bye week the previous Sunday. Give each 2 team 2 bye weeks during the season to setup the Thursday night schedule. So, for example in Week 5, the Pats and Jets have a bye, but they play the first game of week 6 on Thursday night. So, they get a full 10 games between their week 4 Sunday game and their week 6 Thursday game. Then for week 7, they will have gotten 9 full days off before their next Sunday game. That increases the quality of the Thursday game and allows players to recover between games, plus allows the teams to have a regular bye week where they have 2 full weeks between games to rest and recover. Match the regular bye week with the Thursday night game. If you have an early Thursday game during the season, your regular bye week comes later and vice versa.
5) Get the revenue split back to 50/50. That's the primary one since it will increase the salary cap

And overall, I think agents and players need to fully understand how the leverage is in the NFL. Once you put pen to paper on a contract, the team can get rid of a player, but if a player wants to rip up the contract, they can't simply walk away, not without getting fined or repaying portions of their signing bonus. So, all players have to understand that. And that goes back to the rookie salary cap. Chancellor, a 5th round pick, signed a new deal early to get guaranteed money, but he then became a regular pro bowl player and wanted more. Hawks held firm and his 2 game holdout ended. Only now, 2 years later does he get an extension. Same with Bennett, he signs a 1 year deal with Seattle, then signs an extension after that and during that deal, he wants to renegotiate it. Hawks hold firm again and when he enters the final year of his deal, they extend him.
So, don't sign a deal that you are not going to be comfortable with 2 years later. Cause, there is very little chance that it gets redone for you by the team. There's going to be a tradeoff between security of the guaranteed money versus the market value of your play in a couple of years.
 

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