why in the blue hell is the nfl pa attacking the draft??

[NOT THE DUDE...]

seriously this will kill teams that are not good... has this ever happened in other sports?

[ddaryl]

Re: why in the blue hell is the nfl pa attacking the draft??

out of thin air or do you have some link to some info we should be reading 1st

[CleveSteve]

Re: why in the blue hell is the nfl pa attacking the draft??

Part of the NFLPA's assertions is that the draft prevents the players from free market access to shop their abilities. It's part of the whole "Is the NFL a single entity or collection of competing companies" question.

[ddaryl]

Re: why in the blue hell is the nfl pa attacking the draft??

I haven't heard a peep out of the news in regards to the NFLPA asserting any such thing...

not that I've hung on every piece of news coming out of the situation

[trapezeus]

Re: why in the blue hell is the nfl pa attacking the draft??

i haven't heard much of the PA being against the draft, but if that's what they are harping on, it's mroe for posturing to get other things.

there is a 1% chance of the NFL moving forward without a draft. if they do, they might as well close down 20+ teams and just make it dallas, new england, dc, NY, NY, and Miami. None of the other teams will be able to compete on a non revenue share of box money basis.

[Novacane]

Re: why in the blue hell is the nfl pa attacking the draft??

I haven't heard a peep out of the news in regards to the NFLPA asserting any such thing...

not that I've hung on every piece of news coming out of the situation

I'm not going to look for a link but in a statement Goodell made last week he said the draft is one thing the players are going after.

[Ickybaluky]

Re: why in the blue hell is the nfl pa attacking the draft??

Part of the court case the players have filed is that the draft, franchise tags, restricted tags, etc. are all unfair practices. If the case follows through to fruition in the courts, all those would go away. They are, in a free market with no CBA, illegal practices because they restrict trade and are collusive.

It also means there would be no cap, no minimum or maximum salaries, etc. Teams would compete to sign players without restriction. If a team wanted to sign high school kids, they could. If they wanted they could sign a guy for minimum wage to snap for FG, so it would hurt players who are easier to replace. A player would either have a contract or not, there would be no restrictions otherwise.

Of course, the more likely scenario is a new CBA is negotiated as part of a settlement of the court case, allowing for the draft and other rules that would otherwise be illegal.

But yes, it is possible that what would come out of this is a new system without a draft or other restrictive practices. That is being pushed hardest by Jeffrey Kessler, the NFLPA lead counsel.

[Saratoga Slim]

Re: why in the blue hell is the nfl pa attacking the draft??

i haven't heard much of the PA being against the draft, but if that's what they are harping on, it's mroe for posturing to get other things.

there is a 1% chance of the NFL moving forward without a draft. if they do, they might as well close down 20+ teams and just make it dallas, new england, dc, NY, NY, and Miami. None of the other teams will be able to compete on a non revenue share of box money basis.

Exactly. It's positioning. The owners got a lot of good press with their post-mediation release about all the concessions they made to the players. The players are trying to make the point that they are also giving a lot of concessions as well that might not appear as concessions. Thus, they put things like the draft and free agency back on the table as talking points, i.e. things that they will "agree" to give up as part of the next deal, even though they've previously agreed to them before.

It's a simple negotiation tactic. Instead of only playing the hand you've been dealt, try to use the cards from your last hand too.

[Michael82]

Re: why in the blue hell is the nfl pa attacking the draft??

It's yet another reason why I blame the players and am on the owner's side. If Kessler gets his way, he would win his court case against the NFL and the league would lose a salary cap, free agency, and even the NFL Draft. There would literally be no rules because it would be 32 separate businesses instead of 1 big business and would kill small market teams like Buffalo.

[THE END OF ALL DAYS]

Re: why in the blue hell is the nfl pa attacking the draft??

take away the draft and you will ruin the sport. there would only be 3-4 teams that EVER have a shot at a SB.
it would just be the end of NFL period

[Ickybaluky]

Re: why in the blue hell is the nfl pa attacking the draft??

It's a simple negotiation tactic. Instead of only playing the hand you've been dealt, try to use the cards from your last hand too.

No doubt it is a negotiating tactic, but the case is very specific about what they are asking the judge to do.

They are asking for the following:

1) An injunction to stop the NFL lockout, open facilities and start league business

2) Restraints on their earning ability (lockout, draft, salary cap, franchise/transition tag) declared illegal

3) Players currently under contract to be paid (triple damages + attorney fees)

4) Delcare the "sham" defense of NFL to be not valid, based on language in the last CBA.

Now, the NFLPA is thinking they have a strong case, so if they win an early injunction the NFL will agree to a CBA on terms more favorable to them to avoid all this coming to fruition.

However, if they can't agree on a new CBA and a decision is made (and held up on appeal) in favor of the players, then these items all become what happens. The league will open up for business with no CBA, no cap, no restrictions like tags or a draft. That is a possible outcome. Nobody knows if that will happen and it probably isn't the most likely outcome, but it is out there.

By de-certifying and going with this litigation strategy, the NFLPA introduced what is the nuclear option. That isn't the outcome they want, but it is the road they have gone down. The courts control the outcome. There are risks on both sides.

[Buddo]

Re: why in the blue hell is the nfl pa attacking the draft??

The thing about all the 'free market' stuff I find amusing, is that it doesn't help the majority of the players.
As to the draft, well, I'd be highly surprised if the next 'franchise' type QB to finish school, gets anything like what Bradford got. Teams just won't pay that sort of money, and they cannot be made to. It's a simple defense - what have you done in the NFL to prove you deserve that sort of cash?
There will also be a lot less players signed, imho. Teams will look long and hard at their rosters, and say that they have guys already under contract, and we don't need to take chances on kids from college.
The truly 'elite' players will get paid well, but after that, all bets are off.
I really question the mentality of the players in actually pointing this particular stick at the owners. If they get all the rulings in their favour, all that will ultimately happen, is that they will find themselves working under far more onerous terms than they currently do.
Give it a couple of years, and players will suddenly find there are no such things as OTAs that can be missed - they will be turning up daily to the facilities.
They will also find that they can't just throw their toys out of the pram, the minute something happens they don't like, either.
'Breach of Contract' will become a term they will get to be highly familiar with.
Signed a deal for 5 years? You will be playing at the same deal for 5 years, although if you do well, then an extension or new deal might be forthcoming after 4.
And this is all before any damage done to the limited parity the NFL tries to maintain atm.
I'm really not sure how the players cannot see that this action (lawsuit), has a great deal of potential, to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs.

[ddaryl]

Re: why in the blue hell is the nfl pa attacking the draft??

It's yet another reason why I blame the players and am on the owner's side. If Kessler gets his way, he would win his court case against the NFL and the league would lose a salary cap, free agency, and even the NFL Draft. There would literally be no rules because it would be 32 separate businesses instead of 1 big business and would kill small market teams like Buffalo.

I think you're just reading to much into crap. and they wouldn't lose free agency in your scenario, the whole league would be free agency based....

[YardRat]

Re: why in the blue hell is the nfl pa attacking the draft??

The players have always attacked the draft...in all sports. That's how the NFL draft got down to 7 rounds, and the NBA only two.

[NOT THE DUDE...]

Re: why in the blue hell is the nfl pa attacking the draft??

whats ironic is that if there is no draft and no cap restrictions and no revenue sharing only good big market teams will get all the good players making teams like buffalo miami denver seattle baltimore all suck and eventually lose their markets all together making the nfl have about 10 teams which in turn would limit the amount of nfl players, this would put nfl players out of a job.

the nfl would shrink. players would then get paid less, even the good ones. wtf are they thinking...

its the exact reason nobody goes to see the blue jays play or the pirates... the fans know they have no chance...