I like you all try to stay updated on the CBA, so I’ll share what I receive from Fourth and Goal. We’re all starting to get the details of what the main issues are going to come down to….but there are usually a few twists and I don’t profess to have all the answers.
ESPN.com Feb. 14, 2011
WASHINGTON — The NFL filed an unfair labor practice charge against its players’ union with the National Labor Relations Board on Monday.
The league’s filing says the union “consistently has failed to confer in good faith” during negotiations for a new contract and the union’s “conduct amounts to surface bargaining and an anticipatory refusal to bargain.”
A statement e-mailed to The Associated Press by union spokesman George Atallah says the NFL’s “claim has absolutely no merit.”
Future Of The League
The NLRB is a federal agency that enforces the nation’s labor laws and referees labor-management disputes.
The current collective bargaining agreement expires at the end of the day March 3. The NFL Players Association has said it expects the owners to lock out players; the NFL’s filing with the NLRB says that the union wants to “run out the clock” and, essentially, avoid reaching a new CBA so it can decertify and file an antitrust lawsuit. Players already have voted, team by team, to authorize decertifying their union if a new CBA isn’t reached by the deadline.
The NFLPA already decertified in 1989, then returned as a union in 1993, when a contract was reached with the league that provided for free agency. That landmark CBA was renewed or restructured several times since 1993, including in 2006. The owners opted out of that most recent deal in 2008. Under the heading “Basis of the Charge,” the NFL says in Monday’s filing with the NLRB that during current negotiations, the union delayed the scheduling of bargaining sessions; failed to “respond in a timely and/or meaningful manner” to owners’ contract proposals; and insisted on “disclosure of financial data to which the NFLPA has no legal right and then suspending negotiations unless and until such data is produced.”
The league’s filing also accuses the NFLPA of “engaging in other actions demonstrating that the union has approached these negotiations with no intent to reach agreement through good faith collective bargaining.”
Atallah’s e-mailed statement said: “The players didn’t walk out and the players can’t lock out. Players want a fair, new and long-term deal. We have offered proposals and solutions on every issue the owners have raised.”
The biggest issue separating the sides is how to divide about $9 billion in annual revenues; under the old deal, the owners receive $1 billion off the top, and they want to increase that to $2 billion before players get their share. Among the other significant points in negotiations: the owners’ push to expand the regular season from 16 games to 18 while reducing the preseason by two games; a rookie wage scale; and benefits for retired players.
The NFL and union went more than two months without holding any formal bargaining sessions, until a meeting Feb. 5, the day before the Super Bowl. The sides met again once last week but called off a second meeting that had been scheduled for the following day. While a meeting this week had been expected to occur between the two sides, an NFLPA source told ESPN senior NFL analyst Chris Mortensen on Monday that the league has not called to confirm the two days of negotiating sessions that had been scheduled.
The NFL has not missed games due to labor strife since 1987, when the players went on strike and the owners continued the season with replacement players. Making reference to the 1989 decertification, the NFL’s filing says: in the past, the NFLPA’s threatened disclaimer as the representative of the players, together with the now-familiar antitrust litigation that is expected to follow, is a ploy and an unlawful subversion of the collective bargaining process, there being no evidence whatsoever of any [let alone widespread] disaffection with the union by its members.”
The NFL also said Monday that it will hold its owners meetings on March 3 — the final day of the current collective bargaining agreement.
All 32 owners are expected to be at the meeting in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., that follows two days of committee meetings that were previously scheduled
The Bills released Marcus Stroud:
http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/Buffalo-Bills-Marcus-Stroud-release-021611
He played well in a 4-3. I wonder if we could pick him up and draft Peterson, since it looks like the front office has decided it will keep making McDaniels-worthy moves like letting Champ go.
sndvl, maybe it’s just a scare negotiation tactic, or maybe he is just planning on buying a bigger house with the new contract…. Well, I’m trying…
If we pick Peterson with the 2nd pick we would become the first team in the history of the league to pick a CB with the #2.
I can see it from here: “Another winning move by the Broncos during the draft who secure a CB with the #2 pick while they don’t have a D line to speak of!!! Way to put the carriage in front of the horses once again Denver….”
No thanks.
But with Stroud in the middle of a 4-3 the no D-line to speak of part would change… And with Dumervil moving back to DE.
Stroud is a 10 year old vet, I don’t need to tell you that we need to build our foundation through the draft since that’s all the top wigs in the organization and us have talked about the last couple of months, and the foundation IS the trenches and here you want us to go the way of Williams last year and the Browns D line of three years back, no thank you very much, not buying any of this one bit even so I do respect the many ways that you try to fit your idol Peterson into our plans just about every other day. Not buying any of it though as you well know. It is what it is as Fox would say.
Lets go fishing!
Stroud is far to old to pick up.
We have blown it for so many years personnel wise on the D side of the ball, it’s time we take our losses and stop thinking like a great CB is going to make us better when our front 7 scare NOBODY. We absolutely have to have the self discipline this year to think this straight and leave the flashy temptations out of the equasion, go with the rocks, the solid stuff up front first, second and third and go to the skill positions later.
So what if it doesn’t make us an instant winner, at least it will give us something to build on, something solid, not just an island of greatness at one corner! What has that done for us so far by the way?
Elway and Fox will do it right this time around is my belief. Right John?
I’m just not sold on Bowers and it looks like Carolina is going to pick Fairley
Fairley or Dareus would be my pick at #2.
Have you ever thought that’s one of the reason Bailey probably wants out of here??? Who in their right mind wants to play CB on a team with no front 7 to speak of??? Of course Doom will be back, but a front 7 he doesn’t make.
I hear you MANIAC, but you’ll have to do better than that to sell him to me, so far hasn’t happened, and probably never will anyway, but maybe you are convincing others, as long as it’s not the top brass I don’t care, haha.
There aint going to be no free agency without a new CBA.
Strand, you don’t need a new CBA to sign a guy who has beeen released right now, Stroud could be a Bronco by the weekend if they want him, just saying.
Oh Really? OK. I still don`t want him. Too old.
It`s interesting to hear that the Bronco`s are in negotiations with Champ and a fews hours later in the day we hear that Champs house is up for sell. Rather Odd, don`t you think?
We haven`t heard from BFE in awhile. Must be taking a vacation.
Bay- @ your 5:32 post:
I was thinking the same thing. He could be prepping for things to go both ways. Buy a new house whether he is in Denver or elswhere depending on how things work out. He’s not EVEN CLOSE to getting the Cuttler stamp. Of course it’s not the same situation anyways. As everyone else I hope the Broncos org can work this out. He has HUGE shoes to fill.
Sign Champ!
wow this is not the news I wanted to come home to after a aweful day in the books!!!!!!!!!
Baylin, your glass half full view is appreciated.
Actions speak louder than words. Champ putting his crib on this volatile market speak pretty loud.
So who here watches Jeopardy? I’m an avid fan. Pretty amazing stuff the last 3 days!!!
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=129889607079925
Hey guys I thought all you people that live in Denver should check this out. Too bad I live in Atlantic Canada or I would be there lol.
For those of you that don’t have Facebook there is going to be a Champ Bailey rally at the south side of the stadium on Sunday, February 20th.
Oh yeah I forgot the time lol 2:00 pm – 5:00 pm.
we need solid veteran leadership on the interior line so signing stroud short term and drafting youth would be a good idea for the right price rogers from cleveland wouldnt be bad either
baylor, u commented back at my comment saying that if I have respect for Champ, then let him go to a winning team. And you said that he just wants to go to a winning team. That is true and he did say that, but Champ also said that he wanted to be a Denver Bronco until he retired. The short of it is, if we would have offered Champ a contract earlier he would have accepted it, he even thought that they were going to get a deal done for sure before the front office cancelled the offer.
GIVE THE MAN WHAT HE WANTS!
how did it pan out with Watson? I love Jeopardy but missed all three!!!!!
I actually don’t think picking up Stroud would be a horrible idea as long as we still get Fairley, Dareus or Bowers in the draft. Even if we lose Champ and sign someone like Stroud I don’t think Peterson would be a smart pick. The front 7 needs as much help as possible.
But overall I agree, Stroud is a little too old for our liking right now. But as long as we put the front 7 at the top of our list in the draft I really don’t care which free agents we sign.
The way I see it, we need to think front 7 in the draft no matter what. Any and all free agents should just be complimentary pieces but not the final answer.
Oh, and I think Champ putting his house up for sale might be a bit of a smokescreen. Maybe he just didn’t like the dollar amount the front office offered him and put his house on the market as a threat to get them to increase the amount. Houses don’t sell very quickly in this market (especially really expensive houses owned by rich athletes). This decision by Champ could just be him bluffing, as in the front office hears this news and offers a better deal, and then Champ takes his house back off the market.
Don’t know for sure if that’s what is going on, I’m just saying it could very well be a way of bargaining and gaining leverage in the negotiations. I’ve heard of other athletes using this strategy to get a contract offer they want. So it may or may not mean anything in the long run. Unfortunately all we can do is wait and see.
But in other words, I wouldn’t get my hopes up about the Champ situation just yet.
doomervilfan,
That’s true, the only problem is Shaun Rogers has no leadership skills at all. I could see signing Stroud for leadership reasons to groom some younger linemen because he’s a solid vet and a true team player. But not Rogers. That guy is just another diva. I don’t think he would exactly be an ideal role model.
Plsss sign Champ!
Too much respect for him…..
I dont think Stroud or Rogers would help..We got our veteran in Williams already.
Fairley fits prefectly.definitly if he is there.
But Bowers could be the next Mario Williams, we thought the Texans were crazy picking him over Bush, looks who’s laughing now…
there will be other promising DBs in the draft.
I believe that Champ maybe GONE… House is up for sale. He obviously wants to stay but failing to pull the trigger shows a complete lack of commitment to this man. Yet i’m still an optimist regarding Mr. Bailey.
He’s taken pay cuts in the past to allow players to join the team, he’s stuck with us through the good bad and as of late; The UGLY.
Just to reminisce, we HAD a B (on a grading scale) run stopping D, I remember trading Portis for him to build a strong secondary to compete against the Colts because Payton Manning was chewing us up for playoff contention, then we got Bly thanks to Champ taking a cut. Unfortunately it wasn’t our time. I think Champ was still an optimist.
Then with all the drama of an unmentionable espionage artist took us from being average to trying to make us look like a bunch of cheaters, then one of the most disappointing years in Broncos history. Still Man! he wants to be a bronco, no doubt! he’s said it himself.
But he’s now a vet and he’s probably thinking ‘A rebuild?’ something that can possibly take 2-3 years.. And as the proverbial sands of the football hour glass slip through time, he now sees more sand at the bottom of that glass, he’s most likely thinking ‘will I be the defensive version of Dan Marino?’. Who knows maybe he don’t care if he is. hopefully he’s still an optimist.
Yet the FO doesn’t put forward a deal for him. After everything he’s done for our organization and all that he’s sacrificed. Its a slap in the face, less men would have left long ago. i’m not sure if we even deserve him but I, like a lot of fans want Champ back which I admit is selfish, I think he deserves a trip to the SB. And we should be the team to take him there, so this is a pivotal decision making point-in-time, if we fail to plan then we plan to fail. Lets dominate the trenches and SIGN CHAMP!!!! OR HE IS GONE!!! enough said
-Royalty
Whisperer, you must of missed my 5:10 pm post in which I basically made the same point.
Magic, I brought up the same put up house for sale bargaining tactic to scare them into moving along in the negotiations possibility on top of this page.
Royalty, agreed Champ deserves to be on a team with a legitimate SB shot and we owe him that as I said last night, but disagree whole heartedly that we are that team to do so. I’m not about to sit here and make a fool of both Bailey and myself telling him we have good odds of taking him to the SB any time soon.
heartily.
This is for the bloggers who always like to throw in our face that we must give them time when we complain that our top picks over the last couple years have not produced the way top picks should. From Legwold who answers a question about how quick should rookies be able to play at playoff level:
Tim Tebow, a former Florida star, made three starts for the Broncos in 2010 as a rookie quarterback. If the Broncos go with Tebow as their full-time starter in 2011, he will be helped by coach John Fox’s desire to win with a good defense and good running game.
At positions other than quarterback, teams that draft high-effort rookies who fit what they do can get those players to contribute quickly. The Colts and Ravens routinely do it. Rookie cornerback Devin McCourty of the Patriots was a Pro Bowl selection last season.
Talented rookies who pursue improvement are the ones who survive and contribute. But that is the most difficult element for scouts and personnel executives to identify.
Talent is always necessary. Players who don’t have enough of it won’t make it in the NFL. But talent often is wasted by the players who have it.
The teams that do the best find players who will do what’s necessary to improve. Look at the Packers, who won Super Bowl XLV. They lost more starters to injuries last season than the Broncos, but they are NFL champions because they had talented draft picks who were prepared to contribute as rookies.
Central Michigan’s Frank Zombo didn’t get drafted last year, but the Packers liked the linebacker’s effort and skills. Zombo was a starter in the Super Bowl, as was rookie running back James Starks. They certainly performed at a playoff level as rookies.
Well, in the McD years we have had none of those, that is the truth of the matter, let’s just hope Tebow pans out so we can salvage ONE thing from those dark ages.
sndvl, since you were wondering about the two firsts vs. a first and a third to acquire franchised players, here is the yearly reminders of the frachise tag NFL rules:
There are two types of franchise tag designations: the exclusive rights franchise tag, and non-exclusive rights franchise tag:
An “exclusive” franchise player must be offered a one-year contract for an amount no less than the average of the top five salaries at the player’s position as of a date in April of the current year in which the tag will apply, or 120 percent of the player’s previous year’s salary, whichever is greater. Exclusive franchise players cannot negotiate with other teams.
A “non-exclusive” franchise player must be offered a one-year contract for an amount no less than the average of the top five salaries at the player’s position in the previous year, or 120 percent of the player’s previous year’s salary, whichever is greater. A non-exclusive franchise player may negotiate with other NFL teams, but if he signs an offer sheet from another team, the original team has a right to match the terms of that offer, or if it does not match the offer and thus loses the player, is entitled to receive two first-round draft picks as compensation.
BTW, Bailey all on his own was able to get this blog going yesterday, the first time in quite a while, good to see if even for all the wrong reasons…. That means bloggers are still out there, they just need something to talk about to show up, not like some of us stupid daily bloggers who post whether we have something to say or not, LOL.
After Seymour just signed a two year contract with the Raiders making him the highest paid defensive player in the league, one better than Peppers, Bailey is probably salivating over the possibilities….
Da’Quan Bowers had minor knee surgery so more than likely will not particpate in the NFL Combine. He lead the Nation with 15.5 sacks last year playing with a partially torn miniscus.
I like what I’ve read about Bowers although it seems he’s excelled due to sheer athlectic ablity vs. technique.
sndvl, I just got where your confusion came from, restricted and unrestricted free agents, not franchised players:
Restricted free agents
Restricted free agents (RFAs) are players who have three or more accrued seasons of service and whose contracts have expired. RFAs have received qualifying offers from their old clubs and are free to negotiate with any club until a deadline which occurs approximately a week prior to the NFL Draft (for 2010 the deadline was April 15), at which time their rights revert to their original club. If a player accepts an offer from a new club, the old club will have the right to match the offer and retain the player. If the old club elects not to match the offer, it may receive draft-choice compensation depending on the level of the qualifying offer made to the player.
Unrestricted free agents
Unrestricted free agents are players who have completed six or more accrued seasons of service and whose contracts have expired. They are free to sign with any franchise.
The restricted free agent is the one who could require a first and a third…
Like last year Orton was offered such amount that it made him worth a second, Doom was a first I think, Kuper a second too, anyway that’s a bit old to remember the exact amounts tendered to them and subsequent picks required to get them, but that’s how it works.
We won’t have to worry about this crap this year! LOL.
Actually this is exactly how it went down, a good refresher for everybody:
The Denver Broncos have slapped a first- and third-round tender on Pro Bowl pass rusher Elvis Dumervil, who led the league in sacks last season.
Other teams would have to surrender those two levels of picks in the upcoming draft if they signed the restricted free agent who stands to make $3.168 million next season with the Broncos.
Pro Bowl receiver Brandon Marshall, who began and ended last season in coach Josh McDaniels’ dog house, received a first-round qualifying offer – which would make it easier to facilitate a trade.
Marshall would get a 14.7 percent raise next season to $2.521 million if he’s still in Denver.
Quarterback Kyle Orton ($2.261 million) and guard Kris Kuper ($2.521 million) also received first-round tender offers, and tight end Tony Scheffler ($1.759 million) was given a second-round
tender.
sndvl, you’re gonna owe me one on this one, haha.
Just kidding, glad you are helping me keep my brain alive, that’s more than can be said about my body….
The only position I could hold as a scab is holder of the football for the kicker on windy days and don’t dare anyone ask me to go down the field after that effort to go tackle anyone, hahaha.
HA!! still play..NOT…love to think I could…but even if I worked out all summer with the best trainer in the universe and (made it through that) I MIGHT make it a series. period and it wouldn;t be pretty, just on guts and like and ole dog just knowing where to be.
Funny stuff you guys on scabs etc. 87 was an interesting yar with a few crossing the line and all the scab players. Different circumstances and since this could go on for a while we got some news today about the 4-3 defense and thought is would make for some good topics.
Let’s go to the next post on the 4-3 Defense, I’m anxious to know your thoughts. I’ll post the defense in a few as I have to send my pics to the IT guys as the system I post in has been acting up lately.
Coopster