The Sports Business Journal is reporting that a group of NFL players are set to sign a lawfirm to intervene in the Brady vs. NFL case. The exact tweet from SBJ’s Daniel Kaplan’s is below.
BREAKING NEWS: Breakaway group of NFL players close to signing law firm to intervene in Brady case, reporting now in SBD…
The “breakaway group” as Kaplan calls it, is believed to be 70 mid-tier players that want to be represented separately at mediation. The motion is expected to be filed by the end of the week and will not contest the Brady v. NFL lawsuit, but will demand the other group of players have their own seat at negations.
If this report is true, then this situation looks bad on the players, who obviously want to be perceived as a united front during this dispute. Any signs of discord among the players will be viewed as leverage for the owners, whom I believe are stalling until they can get into August or September. The longer the owners hold out, the more some of these young players blow through their savings, get arrested and/or turn on their leaders.
There’s also belief among some players that their leaders did not take this second round of mediation under Judge Susan Nelson seriously. If that’s the case, then I wonder if some players will start getting vocal about their displeasure for the way talks have progressed (or regressed) to this point. If a group of players are already in the process of signing a lawfirm to intervene in the Brady vs. NFL case, then when will some of these athletes really start turning on each other through the media? You know Twitter is a feeding ground for players who love to make comments without first thinking them through.
We could be witnessing some major cracks in the players’ foundation.
