One step closer: Proposed CBA goes to full NFLPA membership for vote

The proposed CBA would expand games and playoff teams, but limit what the Cowboys can do with tags for Dak Prescott and Amari Cooper.

The National Football League, its players, owners, and fans are one step closer to ten more years of guaranteed football. After a lengthy meeting that lasted into the night in Indianapolis, the NFL Players Association Board of Player Representatives voted to send the collective bargaining agreement proposed by owners last week to the full union membership.

Now, according to ESPN’s Dan Graziano, NFLPA attorneys will draft a document that each of the league’s nearly 2,000 players will vote on, with a simple majority (one vote over 50 percent) needed to pass. That vote is expected to take place in “a couple of weeks,” Graziano tweeted Wednesday morning.

As per NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, though, the new CBA’s approval is a “virtual certainty.” As he put it, the league and the players are “on the 1-yard line towards 10 years of labor peace.”

The current executive council did not vote again, remaining at 6-5 against according to ESPN’s Josina Anderson, while the player’s reps voted 17-14 with one abstaining in favor of the new agreement, pushing this to a vote of the entire body.

It’s possible the full vote will not take place before the NFLPA holds their elections in early May, adding another wrinkle to the equation.

The new collective bargaining agreement calls for an option to expand to a 17-game season (no sooner than 2021), two additional roster spots for each team, a higher percentage of revenue for players (at least 48 percent), the expansion of the playoff field to 14 teams (beginning in 2020), and upgraded pensions for former players. Also included are a cap on the number international games, a reduction of padded practices in training camp, larger practice squad rosters, no extra bye week, and a preseason shortened by one game. The owners also agreed to eliminate the $250,000 cap on earnings for players when they get the extra game check for the 17-game season.

Of particular interest to Cowboys fans is what the new CBA would do to the existing tag system. The tag window is set to open on Thursday, but it is now unclear- less than 24 hours prior- if teams would still be allowed to use both the franchise tag and the transition tag, as they could under the current CBA, which technically expires in March 2021. Dallas has been expected by many to use the franchise tag on quarterback Dak Prescott and the transition tag on wide receiver Amari Cooper as a way to keep both players from testing the waters of free agency.

If, as Graziano suspects, teams are no longer allowed to use both tags, it is Cooper who almost assuredly moves onto the proverbial bubble in Dallas, unless the Cowboys can work out an agreement with Prescott prior to the tag window closing.

Tuesday night’s vote was not a cakewalk, with the 32 player reps divided on whether to send the proposed CBA to its full membership. The final vote was 17-14, with one abstention.

Once approved, the proposed CBA would run through the 2030 NFL season.

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