The NFL and the players’ union met Wednesday for the first time since February 25 to negotiate the terms of a new Collective Bargaining Agreement. Not long after the session ended, Packer president Mark Murphy made a beeline to the media regarding the so-called “enhanced season,” a term that we previously thought was a reference to Brian Cushing’s award-winning rookie year.
The union isn’t pleased, we’re told, by the league’s efforts to so quickly take the details public. Though the two sides in this slow-motion square dance long ago abandoned their agreement to keep the content of the talks confidential, the league’s brazen rush to the microphones will cause more problems than it solves.
Meanwhile, a union source expressed concern regarding the possibility of additional injuries via an 18-game regular season, pointing out that the folks charged with determining the risks of adding extra games “are the same people who for decades denied that concussions are linked to brain damage.”
We’re told that no further talks currently are scheduled. And that may be the best news of the day. If the first talks in nearly four months served only to piss one side off, they’re better off not talking at all.