NFLPA boss: Future NFL lockout or strike a ‘virtual certainty’
Mark 2021 on your calendars because part of the NFL season could be in jeopardy.
NFL Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith painted a gloomy picture of the union’s relationship with the league and the likelihood of the two sides striking a new deal when the current collective bargaining agreement expires in four years, during an interview with Sports Illustrated’s The MMBQ Thursday.
Smith called the chances of a lockout or strike when that time comes a “virtual certainty” and went on to explain how, in his opinion, the NFL has been known to be uncooperative and stealthy in negotiations.
“If there is no renegotiation of the collective bargaining agreement and we reach 2021, there is no uncapped year, right? Because the last time we went through it, we found out the owners lied and cheated about the uncapped year,” Smith said. “So why would I do that again?”
The current CBA, which the NFL and NFLPA agreed upon in 2011 after a 132-day lockout, has resulted in five years of relative stability. Outside of labor discussions, however, the two sides have frequently butted heads over player discipline, with the tension reaching a peak this week over Ezekiel Elliott’s domestic violence case.
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First, the NFL blamed the Players Association for spreading “derogatory information” about Elliott’s accuser in an effort to defend the Cowboys star running back after the league suspended him six games last Friday. The NFLPA then fired back with a statement of its own, calling the NFL’s claims a “lie” and criticizing Roger Goodell and Co. for using the argument as a way to cover up their own “failings” in cases of this nature.
When Smith, 53, was asked if he expected the NFL to miss games over a potential lockout in 2021, he recalled how the league’s recent contract negotiations played out — the owners opted out of the previous CBA in 2006, which then expired in 2011 — and therefore reasoned the future is foreboding.
“I don’t know now, but I mean let’s look at our history,” Smith said. “The owners do a deal in 2006 and opt out in 2008. We do a deal in 2011 with no opt-outs because we like the benefits under the current deal and we didn’t want to give the owners an opportunity to opt out and take back the gains that we currently have.