Logan Mankins and Vincent Jackson aren’t the only Brady antitrust plaintiffs that will want a little sweetening of the pie.
Drew Brees and Peyton Manning both are requesting to be exempt from the franchise tag for the rest of their careers, according to Greg A. Bedard of the Boston Globe.
Bedard’s source says that would be effective immediately, which would conceivably make Manning an unrestricted free agent next week. (Now that would fun.) Mike Freeman of CBSSports.com confirmed Bedard’s report. This could slow the process down a bit, but we find it hard to believe the plaintiffs couldn’t be settled quickly, one way or another.
The NFLPA* appears sensitive to the P.R. of players looking like bad guys in the process.
“Rely on the process and rely on your player leadership to get you the right information. Don’t let ‘anonymous sources’ influence you,” NFLPA* spokesman George Atallah wrote on Twitter.
We think there is room for all of the above to be completely accurate. It is not a surprise Brees, Manning, Mankins, and Jackson are trying to get what they can.
That doesn’t mean the players will get what they want, but it’s part of the “process” that Atallah describes.