If you haven't heard, the NFL owners locked out the players, and the union decertified so the players can sue the NFL. In layman's terms, this means that as of right now NFL football will not happen this coming fall. This does not mean as much to the owners as you may think because all, or most at least, have other businesses besides their NFL team. But as it means little to the owners, it means everything to the players because the NFL is their full-time job. So my question is, what have the players been up to? Well, some players are trying to make sure the players don't get shafted in the next collective bargaining agreement (CBA) while trying to make sure there is football this fall. Other players are organizing workouts with coaches and pretending that this whole dispute never happened. Then there are those players that are turning to other sports to make money for the time being.
It should be no surprise that some of biggest names are fighting for the players and trying to get a deal done one way or another. Some of the big names include are: the three best active quarterbacks in Drew Brees, Peyton Manning, and Tom Brady; Manning's center, Jeff Saturday; and Ravens starting corner Domonique Foxworth. The quarterbacks are part of a 10-player lawsuit against the NFL for violating antitrust laws, named the Sherman Act. Brees and Saturday have been vocal to the press about the whole situation while Foxworth attended some of the meetings between the owners and players. Kevin Burnett, a not-so-big name player and linebacker for the Chargers, took his frustrations to the press as well and tore into Goodell's character calling him a "blatant liar." No one knows if players getting this involved will hurt or help the CBA negotiations.
Why those players are fighting for football in 2011-2012, other players are anticipating football this year and honing their skills with coaches. Chad Henne was the first to do this having (illegal but non-punished) meetings with his new offensive coordinator, Brian Daboll, and quarterback coach, Karl Dorell. These meetings were before the old CBA expired there were rules that disallowed player/coach interaction, but the NFL chose not to punish the Dolphins. The Rams and Browns were also having such meetings and the NFL sent them cease-and-desist letters. All contacts between teams and players is forbidden now that the CBA expired, so it is unknown if teams are still breaking the rules and having player/coach meetings. If not, you can rest assure that the likes of Chad Henne and Sam Bradford are working out alone somewhere preparing as if a lockout never happened.
If I told you Chad Ochocinco was going to play professional soccer in Kansas City, would you believe me? You don't have to answer that because the Associated Press and ESPN have reported that Sporting Kansas City of the MLS has given Ochocinco a 4-day tryout to make the team. Ochocinco loves the sport of soccer and played from age 4 until high school, choosing to focus on football there. Another player switching sports during the lockout is Ravens safety, Tom Zbikowski, who returned to the sport he played in college: boxing. Zbikowski won his second career fight against Richard Bryant, winning 50,000 dollars in the process. While Ochocinco and Zbikowski chose to dabble in completely different sports, two receivers returned to arena football. Rod Windsor and Troy Bergeron, both practice squad players last year for the Browns and Cowboys, both signed AFL contract and both were rookie of the year for the league at one point. I guess for these players it is all about trying to raise income, except for Ochocinco, who I am sure has enough money to sit out this lockout and a few more after that.
One thing can be said in loo of these facts, and that is that the players are not all unified about getting what they want from this deal. I would not be surprised if some players didn't care if the owners took another billion off the top as long as it meant football in the fall. While enough of the star players have stepped up trying to fight for the players, I don't think it will be enough. I think either the owners will win this deal or there will be no football this year. If all the players were unified for the cause it might be a different story, but with players quickly willing to go elsewhere to find work this might be a sign of no 2011-12 season. Everybody brace yourselves for life without pigskin because things are looking pretty grim right now. Good thing there's Madden.
References
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=6205936
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=6229285
http://espn.go.com/blog/afceast/post/_/id/26490/chad-henne-indicates-dolphins-broke-rules
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=6227522
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