As members of the NFLPA* Executive Committee and the NFLPA* board of player representatives meet in Washington to ponder the proposed labor deal, NFLPA* president Kevin Mawae says that the process won’t be rushed simply to ensure that the deal is approved before the owners vote on Thursday to approve it on behalf of the league.
“We’re not tied to a timeline of July 21,” Mawae said, via ESPN.com. “Our timeline is to get a deal that’s best for the players.”
Fine, but it’s also best for the players to avoid losing their $96 million piece of that $200 million per week that would be forfeited if the lockout eats into the preseason. And that sizable figure has to be factored into the timeline to which the players adhere.
Thus, we think that Mawae is merely saying what he thinks he needs to say in order to counter the impression that the players are being rushed. The truth is that everyone is being rushed, thanks to that $200 million per week.
As previously explained, if the deal is good enough for NFLPA* executive director DeMaurice Smith, it should be good enough for the men who hired him to negotiate the deal.