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elaine95 · Dołączył: 13 Lut 2019 Posty: 60

For all those fans of the Raiders and Jets who believed in that rebuilding-program message Jahlani Tavai Jersey , their teams have handed them a big “never mind” this week.For fans of the Giants and Steelers, well, maybe that rebuilding tag should be placed on them.During the frenzied two days of “legal tampering” before the NFL’s 2019 business year begins — and even beforehand in Oakland’s case —the future became now for Jon Gruden and Adam Gase. All that talk about setting a solid foundation through the draft and youngsters? A lot of it was just talk.Gruden’s first season in his return as Oakland’s coach was lowlighted by dealing away perhaps his two best players, Khalil Mack and Amari Cooper. The word was that having three first-round draft choices this April would provide a strong base for the franchise when it arrives in Las Vegas next year.The magic word now for the Raiders is spend. They are bringing in pro football’s best receiver of the last decade, Antonio Brown, and giving him more than $50 million over the next three years, with $30 million guaranteed.They agreed to a $66 million contract ($36.75 million guaranteed) with left tackle Trent Brown, whose blocking not only filled a void in New England but helped the Patriots to another championship. And the Raiders will be paying $42 million over four years for safety Lamarcus Joyner .These are not negative moves. If Trent Brown plays the way he did protecting Tom Brady, Derek Carr will do a lot more smiling. Having Antonio Brown as a target — until the wideout begins complaining he isn’t getting enough action — also will bring a wide grin to Carr’s face. And Joyner is better than nearly all of Oakland’s defenders.But when did the frugality that cost them Mack, arguably the NFL’s best defensive player, and the long-range plan that led to Cooper’s departure turn into opening the vault so wide?At least the Jets were more transparent in their approach . They believe they found their franchise quarterback last spring when they drafted Sam Darnold, and they had been pointing to the 2019 offseason — and more than $82 million of cap space — to fill in holes.Still, their spending spree also indicates they’ve become impatient in pursuit of a turnaround in a division where, frankly, combining the rosters of the Jets, Bills and Dolphins might not provide a team capable of knocking the Patriots from their throne.New York’s additions should help lift the Jets from the depths of the AFC, though. C.J. Mosley is a quality linebacker who was overshadowed by Terrell Suggs and Eric Weddle in Baltimore. He gets a monstrous deal of $85 million over five years, with $51 guaranteed. Such money means the Jets expect to get an All-Pro caliber player.The Jets also dived into the receivers pool, but not like the Raiders and Browns did. Adding Jamison Crowder and Josh Bellamy bolsters a mediocre pass-catching corps, but not significantly.Where the Jets are making a huge step toward respectability is bringing in Le’Veon Bell , the best player in this crop and exactly the kind of weapon Darnold needs to help his development. Yes, there are concerns Bell could be rusty, and he’s one wrong off-field move away from a lengthy league suspension. He’s also the right fit for a club whose best recent successes came with high-quality running backs such as Hall of Famers Curtis Martin and LaDainian Tomlinson and the dependable Thomas Jones.With Bell in the Meadowlands and Brown in the Bay Area, the Steelers have taken some huge hits. Their streakiness won’t disappear as they retool, and there are question marks throughout their roster.As for the Giants, the furor over the departures of two of their three best players, Beckham and Landon Collins — he went to division-rival Washington — already is intense. It will grow until the draft, when perhaps the team’s fans will calm down should New York land its replacement for 38-year-old quarterback Eli Manning.This question lingers Will Harris Jersey , though: Why re-sign Beckham last year, making him the highest-paid wideout in NFL history, then make this deal? Perhaps the Giants saw how Brown maneuvered his way out of Pittsburgh for less than equal value and feared a disgruntled Beckham would try the same.Regardless, it certainly seems off-kilter that the folks who wear green to MetLife Stadium are being praised, and those who wear blue are being excoriated. NEW YORK (AP) — Eight years ago at this time, when the NFL was hitting a mere 91 and counting, discord between players and owners reached such a fevered state that the league locked out the union.Two years from now, when the NFL heads into its 102nd season, it could happen again.Yes, pro football as a business is healthy. Incredibly so, with revenues beyond $14 billion, TV ratings up and modern stadiums nearly everywhere. But the money-filled pot the league and its players share is beginning to heat up if not exactly boil. The boil could come in 2021, when the 10-year labor deal struck to end the 2011 lockout itself concludes.It’s difficult to argue that the current CBA hasn’t been profitable for the people who own the 32 clubs and the hundreds of guys who play for them and are earning seven — and for some, eight — figures a year. It’s also impossible to maintain that these are peaceful times overall, with the union and league at odds over nearly every issue, from players’ rights to protest, to disciplinary powers for the commissioner, to roster size, to length of schedule.The 2011 work stoppage seemed a certainty from the time in 2008 that the owners opted out of an agreement reached in 2006 — the final bargaining act between then-Commissioner Paul Tagliabue and union boss Gene Upshaw. Negotiations sputtered until just after midnight on March 12, 2011, when NFLPA President Kevin Mawae, in a simple text to The Associated Press, said “We are locked out.”And they were for 132 days into late July; there was a brief respite by court order that then was overturned. A deal probably could have been reached in a far shorter time, but the union complicated matters by decertifying so it could bring an antitrust lawsuit against the league.“The lockout, it was not inevitable, it was likely,” says Marc Ganis, president of Sportscorp Austin Bryant Jersey , a Chicago-based consulting firm, and an adviser to several team owners. “All parties could demonstrate to their constituencies how strong their resolve was to fight for them. For the players, it became be careful what you wish for. They won the first round in a Minnesota court, then it was reversed. The original decision was flat-out wrong and that is why it was reversed. But all of that extended the period by which they were in court and not negotiating.”When there were negotiations, whether in Washington, New York, New England and points elsewhere, they tended to be contentious.Then, as Ganis notes, “The calendar came up.”The sides had moved into July with some but not enough progress toward an agreement. Training camps were scheduled to open in a few weeks, followed by preseason games that, while despised by veteran players and ignored by lots of fans, are extremely lucrative for owners.Both sides got serious, dropped the posturing and, by July 14, the parameters of a deal were reached. A week later, the owners voted 31-0 (Oakland abstained) to approve the 10-year CBA, and the players soon after ratified it.Why 10 years?“For the last five or six months, we’ve been talking about the business of football,” said Patriots owner Robert Kraft, a key figure in the settlement. “But the end result is, we’ve been able to have an agreement that I think is going to allow this sport to flourish over the next decade.”Business-wise, it certainly has. The average NFL team is worth $2.57 billion; the least valuable NFL franchise is Buffalo at $1.6 billion. The average NFL player salary — skewed somewhat by the high price of quarterbacks — is more than $2 million.Yet, the storm clouds are gathering. Each side is preparing funding — a war chest, if you will — for a potential labor stoppage.“It’s our job to prepare for wars we don’t want to fight,” NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith said during Super Bowl week.“The NFLPA has a difficult job,” adds Don Yee, one of the top NFL player agents who represents Rashan Gary Jersey , among many others, Tom Brady. “Irrespective of the leader, it has been historically difficult for football players to stick together during any kind of labor effort. If the players want change and progress, they will have to stick together and be willing to make the necessary sacrifices.“We all know the history of the strikes and stoppages and how many star players crossed picket lines. One of the strengths is that the current director, De Smith, no longer is a rookie. He now has the necessary experience. When he was selected, he had no experience, and that simply is a tough spot to be in.”The contentious issues will be many, of course. Yee, for one, lists these:—”creating an entity that will have a source of funding that is solely for the benefit of the lifetime health of the players;—”reforming the ‘fine’ and ‘punishment’ system;—”reforming all league policies that artificially hold down wages, e.g., internal league ‘funding rules’;—”reforming the entire free-agency system, including eliminating the salary cap and player ‘tags’;—”eliminating the draft;—reforming the entire system regarding PEDs, substance use.”Ganis is among those who believe there is plenty of room for agreement.“There are mutually beneficial deals that can be negotiated where fans get another game, players more money, players get a change in the disciplinary program,” Ganis explains. “Where the broadcasters get more inventory, where there are more roster spots and more union jobs. Where there is more attention to player health and safety if that is even possible; they are paying a lot of attention to that.“There is absolutely a compromise situation where everyone wins,” he added. “That doesn’t mean they will get there without the pain of negotiating.”Eric Winston, the union president, joked about any greed element, then also expressed optimism about the future.“Money always will be a major point,” he said. “We want 99 percent and they want us to have 0.1 percent. Where do we meet?“But there might not be as big a bridge to build,” he said.
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