Tag: NFLPA vote

NFL’s CBA drama may not be over with new invalidation request

The new collective bargaining agreement approved two weeks ago is under fire over questions about language reportedly added after the vote.

Turns out the collective bargaining agreement saga of a few weeks ago may have something of an epilogue.

Safety Eric Reid, who was released by the Carolina Panthers two weeks ago, has enlisted a legal team to request an total invalidation of the new labor deal. A letter drafted by Reid’s lawyers and sent to the players’ union claims that the version proposed to players on March 5 includes language that differs from the final version, dated March 15. Reid and his attorneys are seeking a new vote on the CBA as well as an independent investigation looking into the document’s alterations.

Reid made his case public via his Twitter account on Monday morning.

As detailed by ProFootball Talk’s Mike Florio:

“The four-page letter dated March 30, 2020 and signed by Ben Meiselas and Ray Genco of Geragos & Geragos points to inconsistencies in Article 60, Section 4 from the March 5 version of the CBA and the March 15 version of the CBA. Article 60 contains rules regarding the NFL Player Disability & Neurocognitive Benefit Plan. The revisions from March 5 to March 15, when applied to the relevant language of the disability plan, allegedly modify offset rules claims from made on or after January 1, 2015 to claims made prior to January 1, 2015.”

The March 15 document does include new language. According to Florio, “the revisions make a significant change to eligibility for and/or amount of disability payments.”

Reid was among the outspoken critics of the CBA that passed by a fairly narrow margin- 60 votes out of nearly 2,000- on March 15.

“Even if a new vote were taken,” Florio points out, “the CBA likely would pass. At these uncertain times, the players likely won’t embrace further uncertainty in the form of a 2021 offer that may not be nearly as favorable as the offer they accepted, given current global public-health and economic circumstances.”

“The easiest fix, frankly, would be to make the March 5, 2020 version of the agreement the official CBA,” he suggests.

The league, for now, is moving forward with implementation of several key items from the new CBA; a conference call among team owners is set to take place on Tuesday. Four votes are expected to be held during that call, including one on the expanded postseason format as passed in the March 15 CBA.

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NFLPA extends CBA voting; what about Prescott & Cooper’s tag deadlines?

NFL players will have two extra days to vote on a proposed collective bargaining agreement. It may change Dallas’s dealings with two stars.

March 12 had been shaping up to be a critically important day for NFL owners and players. Not only the deadline for each team to declare the franchise tag on a player they wanted to lock down, Thursday was also the deadline for the NFL’s 2,000-plus players to submit their votes for the proposed collective bargaining agreement that would assure another decade of labor peace in the National Football League.

The former was a 4:00 p.m. ET deadline, the latter right before midnight, but now the CBA vote has been extended by two days.

The tag deadline, though, appears still fixed at March 12, creating a new wrinkle for teams like Dallas in how they negotiate this week with star players in flux.

Under the terms of the existing CBA, teams had been allowed to use a franchise tag as well as a transition tag, effectively locking up two players on the roster without all the back-and-forth of true contract negotiations.

The new CBA does away with the transition tag. While teams have still been allowed to use the designation, it had been explained that once the new collective bargaining agreement passes, as it is expected to, clubs using both tags would be required to rescind the transition tag and have only one player under a tag of the franchise variety.

That is expected to remain the case with a new voting deadline of Saturday.

The Cowboys, of course, are trying to ink both quarterback Dak Prescott and wideout Amari Cooper to new contracts. With both tags open for use, the front office was expected to franchise Prescott and use the transition label on Cooper if new deals were not finalized before Thursday’s deadline.

It now seems they can revert to that plan if necessary, although with a new CBA that could take effect just 48 hours later, it may not buy the Joneses much time at the bargaining table with their two star players. It’s just a short extension in this game of financial chicken, but as Cowboys fans have seen as recently as last year with DeMarcus Lawrence and Ezekiel Elliott, all it takes is one phone call from a motivated owner to wrap up the haggling in a hurry.

Two extra days may end up making all the difference in the world… or just prolong the inevitable.

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What CBA player-vote window means to 2020 Cowboys

The NFL and its player’s union, the NFLPA have been negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement for a while. While the deadline for the current CBA does not expire until after the 2020 season, and there’s still 18 months left before the threat …

The NFL and its player’s union, the NFLPA have been negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement for a while. While the deadline for the current CBA does not expire until after the 2020 season, and there’s still 18 months left before the threat of any games missed comes to fruition, the two sides have been working diligently to maintain labor peace. Earlier in the offseason, the league presented new CBA proposals to the union’s executive council.

The 11-member council rejected it, twice, by votes of 6-5 and 7-4. However, the player representatives from all 32 teams approved it prior to the scouting combine, by count of 17-14. Even though it’s supposed to take a greater majority, the NFLPA has passed the proposal on to the full body where only 50% approval is needed to ratify the deal. Now, the window opens on that vote. Players will have until just before midnight March 12 to cast their ballots.

If the date of March 12 seems familiar, it’s because that is the closing date for the current tag window, where teams are allowed to place either a franchise or transition tag on a pending free agent, restricting their possible movement.

Each year, teams are allowed to choose one of the exclusive franchise tag, non-exclusive franchise tag or transition tag to place on one player. Each has a different level of salary associated with it and a corresponding level of compensation should the tagged player sign an offer sheet with another franchise. The current CBA wrote in a clause that if the final year of the agreement was reached without an extension, 2020, than teams would be allowed to use both one of the franchise tags and the transition tag.

With 25 unrestricted free agents including three players at Money 5 positions who are set to be at the top of their markets, this would be a big boon for the Dallas Cowboys.

They have not worked out deals with any of QB Dak Prescott, WR Amari Cooper or CB Byron Jones as of yet. Having both tags would possibly allow the club to make different decisions on prioritization.

Teams have until July 15 to work out long-term deals with players they have tagged, or the player will be locked in for just the one-year.

Recently, the league has clarified their stance on what would happen if a new CBA was reached. With the tag window having opened on February 27, teams have been able to use both tags on players, though no organization has done so yet.

If a team were to use both, and then the CBA get ratified, they would be forced to rescind one of the two tags. That is still in effect.

The new proposal covers a lot, including expanded rosters raising the minimum salary for players, and giving them a slight increase in their share of shared revenue. Though titled “all revenue” it’s actually only around 90% of the money the league brings in which is then shared with the players. Players will get between 47% and 48.5% under the new proposal (distributed to each team evenly in what is known as the salary cap and salary floor).

The other key components are a future 17-game season, and an immediate increase of the playoff field from 12 to 14 teams, adding extra wild-card games for each conference.

The full 456-page CBA proposal can be read here.

It appears the league is not going to extend the tag window, which means that clubs will likely proceed with plans to only have one tag at their disposal, as it’s widely expected the players will ratify the deal. 60% of the players in the league are minimum salary guys, so the league wisely gave them an immediate raise of around $100,000 a year. With the roster expansion, it also means around 60-100 more players will have full-pay jobs. Higher paid players aren’t getting a bigger share of the pie, so many will be against the deal, but again, only 50% of the players need to approve.

For Dallas this means they have a firmer picture of what they need to do. The club has already resigned itself to letting Jones test the CB market, but they desperately want to keep Prescott and Cooper.

They seem comfortable with using the tag to buy more time, months for negotiations or a year of service for either, but will need to agree with one of them on a long-term deal in order to keep both.

Each player has maintained their interest in continuing to play for the Cowboys and each side continues to negotiate with the front office. The almost assured loss of one of the two tag options is a help for the player’s negotiation stance.

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