DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum NFL Collective Bargaining Agreement Part 5

Good thing they don't need any defensive linemen!

Get some rest and relax your typing fingers over the weekend DTers because the forthcoming 2 weeks is going to be a potentially wild ride. Can we just fast-forward to the 21st????

I am handing out brass knuckles for this free for all when FA window opens. Man, this could be a really tough outing for everyone involved. 72 hours is not much time for a contract. But, bring it on! Let's crank this up already! Agents with multiple players in FA and 72 hours is quite a feat.

The reason we havent heard a great deal from the agents is because they are on the phone with every front office out there. I would say most of your top free agents already know where they are going.

I agree with that.

We've probably already talked to and agreed to terms with Nmadi Asomugha, Charles Johnson, Barry Coefield, and Jared Gaither.

Quote:

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Teams will receive a 72-hour window to re-sign their own free agents before the open market arrives.

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That doesn't give the FA much time to decide to sign or test the waters else where. Sounds like it could be pretty risky business for some, but I glad to read that the owners have given up on the 3 FA that they could have the rights of first refusal on.
We may lose an Eric Wright, but many other teams stand to lose a heck of a lot more.

Charles Johnson get your bags packed

It probably doesn't give them a lot of time to decide ... but I'm sure a lot of them have had an opinion about whether they will return or not for months now .. if nothing else I'm sure a lot of them will see what the team did in the draft (IE drafting replacements might make them leave ... drafting complementary talent might make them stay).

Hopefully E-Wright looks at our dline presence and thinks it will make his job easier having more pressure on opposing QB's...

No, it doesn't give much time.

As for the agents, most of them aren't one person team offices. Most have several other employees that handle much of the work.


A kid signs with Boras as an example, he is then handed over to one of his assistants to be the players point of contact.


Obviously, the better the player, the more contact with Scott.

I doubt many deals are missed because the agent couldn't find the time to talk to the team, and with the wonders of communication, between faxing, e-mails, texting, cell phones, etc, communication won't be a major problem.

I'm sure some have a good idea what they hope to do and still to some others it will be a moot point if they are not offered a contract by their old team.

They still might not be sure however until some one shows them the money

With the NFL closing in on a new 10-year collective bargaining agreement, owners and players will return to the negotiating table in a mediation setting on Monday and Tuesday to settle a handful of unresolved issues, according to sources familiar with the negotiations.

According to sources, the sides will meet in either New York or Washington D.C., and U.S. Magistrate Judge Arthur Boylan could join them on either day.

Before departing for an overseas vacation on July 9, Boylan ordered a mediation session in Minneapolis on Tuesday. It had appeared that the mediation session would be cancelled after the progress made in New York on Thursday and Friday, but sources say the hope is that mediation will nudge the two sides to a final agreement in time for the players to vote to recertify as a union and approve an agreement Wednesday.

Under that scenario, the owners would ratify the new CBA on Thursday at the league meetings in Atlanta. According to sources, the two sides also could use Wednesday morning to finish their mediated negotiation session, if necessary.

The outstanding unresolved issues, according to sources:

• Players want restoration of $320 million in lost benefits from the 2010 uncapped season.

• Players want to limit use of the franchise tag on unrestricted free agents to a one-time application. Previously, teams could use the franchise tag on a player on three separate occasions with significant increases on one-year guaranteed salaries for every additional year that the player was tagged.

• Settlement of the Brady antitrust lawsuit involving 10 named plaintiffs. The limit of franchise tags on all players could be the anchor to the settlement. That would result in named plaintiffs such as Drew Brees, Logan Mankins, Peyton Manning and Vincent Jackson not being subject to any free agent restrictions in 2012 if their respective teams do not sign them to long-term contracts.

• Workman's compensation. It has been an underpublicized and complex issue for the owners that has resulted in numerous lawsuits. Owners want players to file for workman's comp benefits in the state in which they played, if they suffered an injury. Currently, players have used California as a filing base if they can prove they suffered any injury during their career while playing in that state.

• Settlement of the television damages case stemming from U.S. District Judge David Doty's ruling that owners did not act in the best interests of players as directed by the previous CBA in creating "lockout insurance." The players have asked Doty to place $4 billion in escrow until the lockout is resolved but Doty has not ruled. It is possible the players will use this leverage to gain the $320 million in restoration of lost benefits from 2010.

Under a ratified agreement, teams would have an exclusive 72-hour window to negotiate contracts with their own free agents Friday before those players hit the open market at the start of league-wide free agency on July 25th.

One key concession made by the owners will effectively eliminate two-a-day practices during training camp as a health and safety issue that players termed critical to an agreement, the sources said. Teams will be allowed to have some helmetless and padless non-contact walk-through practices in lieu of a second training camp practice on the same day.

According to sources, teams will also reduce offseason workouts from 14 on-field organized team activities (practices) to nine. Six of those nine practices must be helmetless. Players also will not be subject to reporting for offseason work with coaches until May 1, although one source said that date could be in mid-April. Previously, players could work with coaches beginning in March. March 15 was the designated date in 2011 before the lockout went into effect March 13.

Under the proposed 10-year CBA, players would get a split ranging from 48 to 46.5 percent of a simplified all-revenue model, the sources said. The lower 46.5 percentage would represent an increase in total dollars as revenues grow from new television contracts, as well as allowing credits if three new stadiums are constructed, including one in Los Angeles, where the NFL has not had a team since the 1994 season.

Talks had stalled last week before, according to sources, the sides reached agreement on both a rookie wage system and salary cap on Thursday and free agency rules for 2011 on Friday.

Baltimore Ravens cornerback Domonique Foxworth, a key member of the players' side in the talks, commented on the lengthy negotiations on his Twitter account Saturday night.

Foxworth wrote: "What a long busy week. I'm so tired. I need my daughter to take a nap so I can."

Chris Mortensen is a senior NFL analyst for ESPN.
ESPN Conversations

Sounds good to me.

I have long felt players practiced too much when you start talking about 2 a day practices in full gear.

I feel the other way about helmets. I think they should always wear them for anything more then walk throughs.

I am not saying they should have contact. I just think the helmet makes it a little closer to how they play the game and does add protection in case a player falls down.

As was said, looks like next week will be a big week, full of news and full of action come the weekend once teams start the feeding frenzy.

Tickets should start arriving fairly soon as well. That's always a big day for me.

Players apparently are making a last-minute power play
Posted by Mike Florio on July 17, 2011, 12:17 AM EDT


When I left Hilton Head Saturday morning, it had been suggested that almost nothing could derail a new labor deal.

That attitude possibly has jinked the entire process.

Now that I’m back at PFT headquarters and catching up on the stuff I missed while driving 600 miles and stopping for a couple of meals (Florio Jr. strongly objected to waiting 35 minutes for a table at Cracker Barrel), it looks like the players opted — through their lawyers — to make a power play on Saturday, something that the owners had feared.

As ESPN’s Chris Mortensen reported earlier today, the players want $320 million in benefits that weren’t paid during the uncapped year, as well as a one-year limit on the use of the franchise tag. Also, if the “lockout insurance” case must be settled separately and apart from the financial package negotiated by the league and the players, it’s possible that another nine-figure sum could be demanded. And to the extent that the Brady antitrust lawsuit needs to be resolved via something more than the contents of a new CBA, the players still could demand even more money and/or special treatment for the named plaintiffs, such as an agreement never to use the franchise tag on any of them.

With a deal now regarded by the media and fans and players and pretty much everyone else as a foregone conclusion, the NFLPA* has by all appearances opted to go for one last home run, possibly buoyed by the league’s decision to cave on the “right of first refusal” concept and the league’s significant concession on the rookie wage scale.

In theory, if the league calls the players’ bluff — and if it ends up not being a bluff — the whole thing could still blow up.

Given the dramatic progress that has been made on far thornier and challenging issues, we can’t imagine the talks crumbling now. Instead, the players likely decided to roll the dice in the hopes of making the deal a little (or, as the case may be, a lot) sweeter, and if the parties can’t work out these remaining issues on their own, then U.S. Magistrate Judge Arthur Boylan will go Alton Benes on anyone and everyone in the room.

Sure, there’s a chance that the NFLPA* lawyers are hoping that cooler heads won’t prevail, but the failure to wrap this thing up now would create a significant backlash for everyone involved. Roger Goodell and DeMaurice Smith are in the home stretch of the ultimate three-legged race, and they’re smart enough to figure out what it takes to get to the finish line.

PFT

Just Clicking

I keep waking up each morning hoping that I'll hear the news that all is settled and we can enjoy football again..

Maybe, just maybe, we are getting closer to that reality....