Jenkins said the union is focused on getting younger players more involved in the CBA processGETTY IMAGES
Eagles S Malcolm Jenkins, who is also the team's union rep, said that he believes the upcoming CBA negotiations between the NFLPA and league owners "won't be as simple" this time, now that his generation of players has assumed a leadership role, according to Tim McManus of ESPN.com. Jenkins said, "I've got a feeling it won't be as simple as it was last time just because you have more players like myself who have been through the lockout before, saw how the NFLPA leadership handled that into where we are now." McManus noted CBA talks are "expected to begin in early to mid-April." Jenkins said the union has a "big initiative to have a lot of the younger players come in to understand how our union works, understand what that means when it comes to labor negotiations," which the union did not have a "grasp on the last time we went into negotiations as a body." A recent player meeting in Miami "helped establish a list of priorities which, according to Jenkins, includes improving long-term health care, altering the structure of player contracts so they are more secure and less restrictive, and ensuring that as revenue grows, 'those gains are being realized by the entire body and not just those at the top'" (ESPN.com, 4/2).
