NFLPA has 'investable war chest' to weather lockout

ATLANTA - The collective bargaining agreement between the NFL and the Players Association does not expire for another two years, but the union clearly believes the writing is on the wall and that a major battle lies ahead. There are no clear lines being draw in the sand like when the NFL owners opted out of the previous CBA in 2009, foreshadowing the lockout that would take place two years later. But there are more subtle signals, according to NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith.

During the union's annual pre-Super Bowl press conference Thursday, Smith pointed toward the reported language included in the new contracts of several coaches that accounts for a potential work stoppage before the 2021 season. The union is coming off an election year in which 10 quarterbacks signed up to be players representatives for their respective teams and 18 current player reps were elected to the Pro Bowl.

"Not only do we have a group of players who have decided to take on a leadership role, we're getting the cream of the crop," said Smith. "They knew they were stepping into a role where we're at a critical junction. They decided to be leaders at one of the toughest times that a union may face." Smith mentioned a "myriad" of issues that will be on the table that dive far deeper than the hot-button topics such as the players' share of league revenue.

"CBA's are wonderfully dense things that have a lot of issues in them," he said. "It's one of the messiest, nastiest things that you could ever do." The union's executive committee said it has learned from the lessons from 2011, when the league's biggest source of leverage was the threat of financial strain placed on players in the face of a prolonged work stoppage. The union has taken steps to encourage players to plan for 2021 while taking other proactive measures on their behalf.

That includes setting aside player royalties from EA Sports' Madden video game franchise and using funds from Players Inc. to build what union president Eric Winston called "an investable war chest." Winston said the focus has been to learn from the past and to educate the players, teach "financial literacy" and to have them hear the stories from those who came before them.

"I think every player is going to believe us when we say that, ‘you're going to get locked out,'" he said. "I think we've always learned from things. And not just 2011, but go back, keep going back and understand the whole view. We know almost everyone who will come up against it in 2021 were in the league in 2011." The executive committed worked to explain what they see as potential misconceptions about other high-profile issues.

Former Giants linebacker Mark Herzlich said that guaranteed contracts are not something to be negotiated in a CBA and have not been in other major sports. Guaranteed money is a player-driven initiative, he said, while calling the fully guaranteed $84 million contract signed by Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins last offseason "a significant moment." Herzlich's former teammate Mike Thomas was among several players to say that removing or reducing punishment around marijuana testing is not necessarily a priority. The primary goal is to understand where players' pain stems from - too many workouts, padded practices, etc. - and if medicinal use of various drugs is the best course of pain treatment when considered side-by-side with other avenues.

Regarding the legalization of regulated gambling in up to 20 states by the end of 2019, Winston said his main concern isn't about the money but rather about players' privacy. He asked what happens when a kicker misses a game-winning field-goal attempt and is accused of purposefully impacting the result? "How do we protect the guys first?" he said. "And everything else comes a distant second."

All of the issues raised go into a deep and complicated collection of discussions that will be on the table between the owners and players over the next two years. "It's not so much in anticipation, but you look at how they've redone coaches' contracts, like they did back in 2009, and that envisions a lockout," said Smith. "You certainly take some certain cues. When a CBA comes near expiration, there's a limited number of options. Everything other than negotiating a new deal is a pretty tough option.

"I think what you're hearing is not so much us predicting what the owners will do as it is preparing for wars that we hope we don't have to fight." --Derek Harper, Field Level Media