March 12th, 2011 marked the beginning of the NFL lockout that has drained most news in sports of interesting off-season storylines that do not involve litigation procedures and struggles for leverage. The 132 day journey has seen its shifts in the balance of power between the NFL ownership, led by commissioner Roger Goodell and the former NFLPA (Players Association), represented by executive director DeMaurice Smith. To briefly summarize the issue, NFL teams claim they are losing money and therefore need to increase the percent they take in of the overall yearly league revenue. Think of it as a pie chart in which the players’ piece is lessened to make room for the owners who are allegedly in need. The players, in response, demanded financial transparency and the proof that would lead us to believe the teams are actually in need of an increased percentage. Initially poor communication led to the standstill that fueled the lockout. All communication between players and teams has been forbidden, which prevents any development or progression within the 32 organizations. However, the circumstances that caused the lockout have been beaten to death seeing as there has been nothing else to talk about in the football world and the crisis of missing any regular season games has finally been averted. The effects of the lockout are now most relevant; the situation itself has thankfully been made an issue of the past now that the two sides have reached a long awaited agreement. Some aspects of the lockout were a bit overblown and, in hindsight, the whole thing wasn’t too disastrous. In other aspects, there is some long term damage taken from it all. The current state of the post-lockout NFL may be an extensive summary of an entire summer, but can easily be broken up into three basic categories to describe the labor dispute: the good, the bad, and the ugly.
The Good: Let’s take a good look at what was actually missed as a result of the lockout. OTAs (Organized Team Activities) and voluntary workouts/minicamps were lost; we are without the most insignificant part of the off-season that even most players would probably like to do away with. Brett Favre was most likely wishing the NFL was locked out every year until mid August or so. The veterans really benefit from this; they either have time to heal up for training camps or can be trusted with their own workout schedules. Despite the series of obstacles, the league is right on schedule. Only one or two training camps will be delayed a few days to finalize the new Collective Bargaining Agreement that takes us all the way to 2021 and they get to argue over it all again, this time with more experience on the matter. The only other part of the off-season is what I’ve missed most, but it is actually somewhat of a blessing in disguise. Due to the lack of transactions, free agency has been dead. While this has left NFL rosters stale and with gaping holes that need to be filled, it all set up what will be the most exciting and crazy free agent frenzy in the history of professional sports. Approximately 400 positions are empty on NFL rosters that need to be filled with enough time to assimilate all newly arriving players into their respective systems. ESPN’s Adam Schefter will get less sleep in the next two weeks reporting all the madness than I will tonight after writing this. The bottom line on ESPN will just leave the breaking news banner up, replacing each name with the next big story. Listed below are only some of the players that will either be unrestricted free agents or possibly traded/released by their current teams.
Players who might be on different teams next year: Nnamdi Asomugha, Antonio Cromartie, Ahmad Bradshaw, Osi Umenyiora, Deangelo Williams, Brandon Jacobs, Tiki Barber, Cedric Benson, Ronnie Brown, Kevin Kolb, Plaxico Burress, Terrell Owens, Randy Moss, Chad “Ochocinco”, Carson Palmer, Braylon Edwards, Matt Hasselbeck, Santonio Holmes, Steve Smith, Santana Moss, Steve Breaston, Brad Smith, Donovan McNabb, Vince Young, Reggie Bush…What’s even crazier is that teams will have to cut players to clear cap space now that the salary cap has been reinstated, which will create another wave of free agents.
The Bad: By now every undrafted free agent has most likely lost his chance to make a significant impact on a team this year. If there was a lockout during every year, the success of players such as Kurt Warner, Warren Moon, Tony Romo, James Harrison or Antonio Gates would have been either delayed or prevented. Rookies suffer a similar fate; having less time to learn playbooks or work with coaches will hurt even top pick Cam Newton’s chances of making an immediate contribution. Another problem provided by lockout aftermath is the adjusted salary cap, and how many teams are already over it. Despite the need to add free agents, teams like the Giants, Jets, Steelers and Raiders are an average of $10 million over the new cap. Some teams will benefit from the adjustment; for example, the Buccaneers are an alarming $59 million dollars under and can buy essentially anyone they need. The new restrictions provided by the league’s agreement will test the ability of General Managers and how they can choose from what will be a sea of available talent. The lack of preparation this season might hurt the overall level of competition. The stronger and more stable organizations will excel while the majority of the league struggles to pull itself together. The chances of seeing a surprising success story or a variety of championship contenders are unlikely. The NFL has more parody than any other sport because of how quickly a franchise can turn itself around. The source of such improvements is the building of team chemistry, which starts as early as April. The early practices themselves are not very important in the grand scheme of the off-season, but Drew Brees and the Saints would not have exploded onto the NFL scene so quickly a few years ago if they didn’t have the months needed to grow as a team.
The Ugly: Best personified by Roger Goodell. The relations between players and the governing body turned hostile through this lockout. Players left and right came forward expressing disrespect and even hate towards Goodell, who was already under fire for his harsh punishment against negative off the field behavior and “illegal” hits as the NFL inches closer and closer towards skirts and two hand touch. While an agreement has been reached, the tension will remain between the two sides that went so long without budging, until something had to be done to save the season. The other side of the ugly portion of the lockout is how poorly informed most of the players are on their own situation. As a fan, I and many in my position knew more about the CBA than the players who it directly affected. Twitter has revealed itself as the absolute devil when immaturity and knee-jerk reactions meet technology’s ability to speak to millions in an instant. Whenever players express frustration towards the league in all their free time, it would become news within minutes. In such comments many things were said, few of which were constructive criticisms. DeMaurice Smith may have been a good enough negotiator to protect his players, but he certainly did not keep them well educated. Outside of the ten plaintiffs in the litigation cases, I doubt many NFL players have even read the new deal. Hopefully, everything will settle down now that both sides and the fans can enjoy the collective relief and happiness that comes with the end of the 132 day lockout.
Luckily, the NFL lockout has left the actual league’s schedule unaffected. Pre-season games will begin in August after the free agent frenzy that will leave fans exhausted from trying to keep up after five months of emptiness. I may have to write up another NFL summary just to remind myself and anyone reading what exactly happened between the 32 front offices and the nearly 500 players who were either cut, signed, or traded. One loose end has yet to be tied here and can be done so quickly, seeing as the player in question has totaled more time than his off-season antics have deserved. Brett Favre’s 4-year special The Indecision has followed us for long enough. If there’s one worse way for Mike Vick to hurt society after his scandal, it would be to let the Eagles sign the soap star gunslinger. But I’ll cut my first rant of the season short, and I’m happy to have a season to talk about at all. Happy Football Day everyone.
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