On Sunday, we were told by a source very close to the NFL labor negotiations that the class of retired players, led by Hall of Fame defensive end Carl Eller, could throw a wrench into the settlement by refusing to stand down.
Specifically, lawyer Michael Hausfeld had claimed that the NFLPA* and the NFL were engaged in illegal collective bargaining, and he requested that the NFLPA* stop attempting to obtain benefits for retired players.
The source now tells us that the retired players will indeed stand down. It’s not currently known how they came to this conclusion, and whether the pot for the former players was in any way sweetened.
Of course, Eller himself said last week that the retired players won’t get in the way of a settlement. So while on the trustworthiness meter the retired players currently are somewhere between Brett Favre and Tommy Flanagan, they’re presumably smart enough to realize that they would be on the receiving end of an unprecedented media and fan backlash if the retired players try to blow this thing up now by asserting flimsy-at-best legal rights.