Smith pointed to players on the lower end of the salary spectrum seeing immediate benefits from the CBAGETTY IMAGES
NFLPA Exec Dir DeMaurice Smith "understands there is disagreement among many NFL players about the prospects of a 17-game regular season," but he also "believes there are plenty of merits" to the proposed CBA that will be voted on by the union’s members, according to Bob Glauber of NEWSDAY. Smith said, "Democracy is sometimes kind of messy, and I know that sometimes it plays out that way." Smith would not predict whether the deal would pass, but said that players on the lower end of the salary spectrum "would see an immediate benefit if the proposed 10-year agreement is adopted." Still, he "understands the reluctance of going to a 17-game season, even if that means the league’s preseason would be reduced from four games to three." He said, "No player would want to play an extra game, and that’s why it’s been such a long and tortured process talking about it." But Smith added that one of the NFL’s "requirements for extending the current deal before it concluded" following the '20 season was adding one regular-season game (NEWSDAY, 2/28). In Chicago, Patrick Finley notes Smith "didn’t commit to a timeline for the vote, which only requires" a simple majority approval from about 2,000 players to "ensure labor peace for the next 10 years." However, lawyers have to "perfect the wording of the proposal first" (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 2/28).
PLAYER DISUNITY: In Boston, Tara Sullivan writes it has been "quite the eye-opener to see so much disagreement play out in public" among players. Smith deserves credit for "publicly supporting the right of high-wattage stars such as Russell Wilson, Aaron Rodgers, JJ Watt and Richard Sherman to go public with their 'no' votes on a deal that includes a 17th game ... and some immediate pay increases for the lowest earners but does little to expand earning potential beyond that" (BOSTON GLOBE, 2/28). However, in DC, Jerry Brewer writes he would vote to approve the CBA if he was an average NFL player and would not let any "super-rich superstar use his influence" to talk him out of it. The NFL's elite players are "on their empowerment-era high horses and want to use this negotiation as the opportunity to add changing the business of the sport" as it is known to their legacies. There is "plenty of nobility in that aspiration," but as a "practical matter in the present, the owners have put a solid deal on the table, one that is a very good deal for more than" 60% of the players (WASHINGTON POST, 2/28).
UPS & DOWNS: Lions LB Devon Kennard said that he was one of 17 player reps who "voted in favor of the new CBA" on Wednesday morning. He said, "I went back to my locker room and received feedback from as many guys as I could. ... The deal is not perfect, by any means, and there are things that I most certainly wish were different and/or better, but when I took a step back, (the) majority of the things we wanted (are) included in this deal" (MLIVE.com, 2/27). In Ft. Lauderdale, Omar Kelly writes he "didn’t expect many wins for the players in this round of negotiations with 32 of the world’s richest and most powerful people." But what he "wanted to see is whether this next CBA would take care of the middle class, the aged former pros." What is being proposed "seemingly will help." But what "terrifies" him is the unknown details about this deal. Kelly: "What are the dominoes that aren’t talking points for the NFLPA. What are they hiding?" There is a "reason why high-profile players" have "used social media to encourage the rank-and-file to vote against the new agreement." More Kelly: "But what's the rush?" (South Florida SUN SENTINEL, 2/28).
