Author: Anthony Stalter (Page 144 of 1503)

Peter King writes in his latest edition of MMQB that the NFLPA is trying to get veterans from every team to show up at an undetermined location in New York so that when the college players are drafted next month, they’ll have a future teammate, not commissioner Roger Goodell, greet them. This news comes a day after reports surfaced that the NFLPA has instructed prospects that were invited to Radio City Music Hall to boycott the draft. (A claim they’re now denying.)

Will it work? One agent with several prospective first-round picks thinks it will, telling me this morning: “What is the first round of the draft for the NFL? It’s a TV show, a show that makes the league a lot of money. They’re going to be asking young men to shake the hand of a commissioner [Roger Goodell] who is trying to lock them out. They’re going to be asking young men to help the league put on this big TV production. And I can tell you this: There’re a few quarterbacks who could get picked high in this draft and the NFL will invite to New York. All those quarterbacks would do by attending the draft for the NFL is giving DeMarcus Ware more incentive to knock their blocks off the first time they line up across the line of scrimmage from him.”

Forget DeMarcus Ware or any other opposing player: what would a veteran teammate do to a rookie that defied the NFLPA’s instructions not to attend the draft? Could you imagine being a first-year player who attended the draft and then had to answer to Ray Lewis once the football season resumed?

I feel bad for these college players. Don’t forget that these are just kids and they deserve the opportunity to shake Goodell’s hand and stand up on stage at Radio City Music Hall. They’re now pawns in something that hasn’t concerned them until this moment and they have to go along with it because the labor dispute is much bigger than them. It’s much bigger than shaking Goodell’s hand, standing up on stage with family and snapping that picture holding up that No. 1 jersey. It’s much bigger than the draft.

But even if they got the opportunity to take part in the normal draft festivities, the moment they shook Goodell’s hand they would enter the land of lawsuits, lockouts and labor disputes. It’s just the misfortune of being the class of 2011.

Imagine you’re one of the very few athletes blessed with enough talent to be considered a top NFL prospect. You’ve earned the opportunity to hear your name called by the commissioner, to walk on stage at Radio City Music Hall in New York and to snap a photo holding that #1 jersey for your new team.

You’ve earned the opportunity to enjoy that experience. But because of an ongoing labor dispute, it’s highly likely that you’ll be stripped of that opportunity now.

According to ESPN.com, the NFLPA is in the process of blocking prospects from attending next month’s draft in New York. So instead of a prospect standing on stage at Radio City Music Hall enjoying the moment with his family, he’ll be elsewhere because the owners and players can’t figure out how to best divvy up the fans’ money. Apparently the Players Association is considering showing the players on another competing network to do post-pick interviews, but it won’t be the same experience.

It’s easy to see where the NFLPA is coming from here. It’s in the middle of a financial battle and doesn’t want to take a brief timeout so that the draft (a production put on by the league) can go on as usual. The NFLPA is trying to prove that the league is nothing without the players, so why have this year’s prospects attend the draft so that the NFL can once again profit? (Plus, the NFL has already told prospects that it won’t pay players a fee in an attempt to have them present this year, so the league isn’t make the NFLPA’s decision any easier.)

That said, I feel bad for the prospects. They’ve worked hard to reach this point and now because of the labor dispute, they’ve been dealt a rough hand. If they skip the draft, then they’ll never get that moment back. If they go, then they’ll always be known as the players that defied the union. (How bad would they get it from veteran players if that happened?)

Either way, a sacrifice will be made on behalf of the 2011 NFL Draft class but oh, well. There’s always a price to be paid in situations like this and the top prospects from this year’s class are finding that out the hard way.