Cleveland Plain-Dealer
Thursday, February 23, 2006
Tony Grossi
Plain Dealer Reporter
Scouts and coaches begin today examining the first wave of 330 college players eligible for the April 29-30 NFL draft. Offensive linemen, running backs and kickers are up first.
General managers on hand are finalizing preparations for the scheduled start of free agency in another week.
Today is the deadline for teams to protect themselves from losing key unsigned players with the franchise or transition labels. For the eighth year in a row, the Browns don't have a good enough qualifying player to bother with either designation.
It is also the first day teams can put players under contract on waivers. The Browns will do that with linebacker Kenard Lang and at least one other player whom they declined to identify because he had not yet been informed.
Above and beyond the typical tasks, however, are a series of meetings taking place to iron out labor differences that threaten the league's order of business.
The NFL collective bargaining agreement, which has propelled the league to record revenues and 13 years of labor peace, is set to expire after the 2007 season. If an extension is not reached soon -- some are saying by next Friday -- everything from free agency to the draft will be changed.
"This is something we've never faced before," Baltimore General Manager Ozzie Newsome said Wednesday.
Gene Upshaw, executive director of the NFL players union, has set this week as his deadline in proceeding with the hope of extending the CBA. If the new league year begins on March 3 with no agreement in sight, the rules of free agency this year would change, and the 2007 season would have no salary cap.
After that, Upshaw has promised, the union would decertify and the future of the NFL would be determined in antitrust court.
It is commonly believed that the major holdup to a CBA extension lies not with the union as much as with the owners. They cannot agree to a revenue-sharing plan that divides equally the nearly $6 billion of revenue the 32 teams generate each year.
The immediacy of the problem is that, starting March 3, without an extension, new rules kick in that hurt teams' ability to get under the salary cap. New contracts could be pro-rated only for four years, rather than seven, which would limit a team's flexibility. Also, a player's base salary could increase by only 30 percent per year, and that would restrict free agency, too.
Some are predicting an ice age would hit free agency. Fewer teams would have the room to pursue higher-priced players.
"This uncertainty is playing a role in everything," Browns coach Romeo Crennel said on Wednesday. "Not only in what we may offer new players, but what we do to try to keep our own [potential free agents]."
There was talk of postponing free agency for two weeks if enough progress suggested a settlement in sight. But Upshaw insisted Wednesday, "There will be no delay in free agency, no delay in anything."
Upshaw met with a group of 16 player agents in the afternoon and then headed into another meeting with Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and St. Louis Rams President John Shaw -- members of the owners' executive council committee. More meetings are scheduled through Friday.
Upshaw said if there is no extension of the CBA, the 2006 salary cap would be between $93 million and $95 million. If there is an extension, it would be between $102 million and $104 million. The cap in 2005 was $85.5 million.
The conservative cap would leave the Browns with about $25 million of space to make a splash in free agency. They are one of the few teams that would not be seriously harmed by the restrictions imposed on free agency if the system tightens.
"I don't think it would affect our free agency much at all because we've got room to do some things," Savage said. "It probably would keep us as one of the teams out there that can be more active than others. In one way it would help us, but for the good of the league and for all involved, and for us down the line, we need an agreement."
To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: tgrossi@plaind.com, 216-999-4670
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