Count Eagles tight end Brent Celek among the players who aren’t particularly worried about the lockout. At least not yet.
Celek said in an interview with WIP that he has talked to NFLPA* head DeMaurice Smith and expressed his own concerns, but that the bottom line for the players is the bottom line: They’ll start worrying when they start losing money.
“I think a lot of the guys are fine with it,” Celek said, via SportsRadioInterviews.com. “The fact that we are not going to football is OK right now. When it’s not going to be fine is when we start missing paychecks. I know guys are getting a little antsy. I am too. It’s fun getting out there and being with your teammates, doing that sort of stuff. I think everyone is OK right now. We just all don’t want to lose paychecks. I guess that what it comes down to. Hopefully it gets done before then, but we’ll see.”
On the one hand, Celek’s statement seems kind of obvious -- of course players aren’t particularly concerned about missing time if they aren’t missing paychecks.
On the other hand, Celek’s statement points to why it still may be a while before a labor deal can be reached: Deals typically don’t get done until one side or the other feels that its back is against the wall. The players still have three more months before they’ll feel real financial pressure to get a deal done.