NFLPA President Eric Winston yesterday said that there have "still been no talks with the league" about extending the 10-year CBA signed nearly six years ago, according to Mike Florio of PRO FOOTBALL TALK. He "described the situation as the two sides 'talking about talks' with 'nothing substantive.'" One of the "real impediments continues to be the future of the NFL’s broadcasting deals." With so much of the NFLPA’s revenue "tied to deals that end two seasons after the CBA expires, certainty as to that revenue stream is needed before a new labor deal can be done." As a result, Winston reiterated that the union "will be (not may be but will be) talking directly to the networks" about what the NFL TV landscape could look like by '23. The union "ideally would prefer to have new TV deals in place before doing a new labor deal, and that the networks would like to have a new labor deal in place before doing new TV deals." For now, the union will be "working with agents to help them avoid the presence of objectionable language in player contracts, and to gather information about how players are handling their money, which has definitely gone up under the current CBA" (PROFOOTBALLTALK.com, 6/19).
QUICK ROUTE: ESPN.com's Jeremy Fowler noted many '14 draftees like Steelers LB Ryan Shazier "aren’t due to become free agents" until '19 due to the "fifth-year-option system that applies only to top picks." But now first-round picks may "soon have equal leverage after three years to that of second-round picks." Shazier said of the current system, "That kind of sucks. Sometimes guys have to wait five years. Other guys don’t. But that’s what they agreed on in the past [CBA]. Next time we’ve just got to do a better job of structuring what we want to do. At the end of the day, if you play at a high level, things should pan out for you” (ESPN.com, 6/16). Barstool Sports' Pat McAfee, a former punter, said of Shazier's comments, “There is a lot of feeling that we are all a brotherhood. If you get into the league, you kind of take care of each other, but I do think taking care of the vets is a lot more important than paying the rookies the first day they sign for basically what they did in college" ("PFT," NBCSN, 6/19).
