A season-long holdout by Le'Veon Bell helped push the guaranteed money issue into focusGETTY IMAGES
The NFL avoiding a work stoppage in '21 could "depend on whether players can secure more guaranteed money" in the next CBA, according to Eddie Pells of the AP. The current CBA expires in a little more than two years, and some players are "already expecting a lockout that could be even worse than the one that lasted 132 days" in '11. The push for more guaranteed money across the life of contracts has "slowly picked up steam" over the past few years, and holdouts by free agents Le'Veon Bell and Earl Thomas "put the issues into vivid focus." Seahawks OT Duane Brown said of negotiations, "You don't know what is going to happen, and with the uncertainty of that, you want security." Pells noted another feature of the current CBA, the minimum salary benefit, puts veteran players on "equal footing with younger players in regard to the salary cap." However, average experience over the last 14 years has been on a "fairly steady decline," meaning the clause "only served to widen the gap between high-profile players with leverage and those without it." NFLPA President Eric Winston said that the "best way to ensure more guaranteed money for players is to get them to free agency sooner." Most NFL rookies are not eligible for a new contract until they have played four years. Winston "believes guaranteeing annual salaries isn't the panacea some make it out to be" (AP, 1/28).
