Early Wednesday morning (some might prefer to call it late Tuesday night), after a four-hour meeting between the NFL Management Council Executive Committee and NFL Players Association, the NFLPA’s board of player representatives decided to send the proposed CBA to the players for a vote, where a simple majority is needed for ratification.
There’s no way to know how an entire league’s worth of players feel about the proposal, especially considering all of the details haven’t even been released, but on Wednesday morning, a few notable players took to Twitter to announce their displeasure with the proposed CBA.
Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson has revealed that he is voting no and he urged his fellow players to look toward the NBA and MLB as they negotiate a new CBA.
It sounds like Eagles receiver Alshon Jeffery agrees.
On that note, Saints left tackle Terron Armstead fought back against the notion that the current proposal would give NFL players the highest percentage of revenues of any American professional sports league.
Bears receiver Allen Robinson also doesn’t seem very fond of the offer. At the very least, we know what he would like to see changed. Robinson, who was lucky enough to avoid the franchise tag in Jacksonville, which allowed him to sign a long-term deal with the Bears in 2018, wants the franchise tag to be eliminated.
Packers left tackle David Bakhtiari took issue with the negotiation process.
Saints defensive end Cameron Jordan, who retweeted Russell Wilson’s tweet, also has questions.
By far, the player that came out the strongest against the proposal via social media was Steelers center Maurkice Pouncey, who posted a video that ESPN’s Brooke Pryor captured. You can watch that video by clicking here, but be advised that he uses strong R-rated language. Here’s an excerpt from the rant:
“And if any player, on any one of our teams, if y’all are hurting for rent money or anything while we’re going through this lockout, call us. Man, we’ve got way more money than what they had back in the days. We ain’t got to worry about that. All the vets on each team, stand the f— up. Stand up. Show these guys that we care about them. Man, I care about all you young players and I love you guys to death. I ain’t going to let y’all down. Trust and believe.”
Again, just because a few notable players have come out against the CBA, doesn’t mean it won’t be ratified. The vast majority of players who will be voting did not make their opinions known on Twitter. And there are incentives for some of the lesser known players, who don’t make as much money as most of the players named above, to take the offer.
Last week, it was reported that the proposed CBA includes playoff expansion and the addition of a 17th regular season game, in addition to the information released below.
But again, that information was released last week, before the two sides sat down in Indianapolis for four hours on Tuesday night.
What we do know is that it could a while to finish the voting process. According to NFL Media’s Jim Trotter, there’s a chance it could “take up to two weeks to get a final vote from the full membership.”
And now, we wait.
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings