Every February, as we rise out of our Super Bowl hangovers, the scouting combine comes along to re-focus our heads into the upcoming league year, draft, and actual season. Here are 20 things we learned this time around,
Free agency could be a whole new ballgame.
Based on the feeling in Indianapolis last week, there are two pendulums that hang over the new league year, which begins March 18: A free-agent quarterback situation the likes of which we’ve never seen before (more on that in a minute), and the status of a new Collective Bargaining Agreement. A group of owners and player representatives from all 32 teams met in Indy last Tuesday, with a 17-14 player rep vote with one abstention taking the proposal to the entire player pool for a ratification vote once a few things are ironed out.
If that goes through, we’re close to labor peace until the end of the decade. The owners are offering a bigger piece of the pie of all broadcast revenue, which should increase drastically with new television deals. Some players are balking at a 17-game season, which the owners seem to see as an inflexible bargaining chip. If there is no agreement, there could be a lockout in 2021 following the expiration of the current CBA. At this point, owners don’t know what the salary cap will be long-term without an agreement. Could this lead to a depressed market in free agency? We will have to wait and see.