It appears players won’t be voting on ratifying a deal on Thursday night.
One major reason: Players feel that the owners are trying to add new elements to a deal.
“Here is what the ‘Real’ fans need to know: The owners tried to slip many things in to the CBA “they” voted on that were NEVER agreed to!#PRPlay,” Saints fullback Heath Evans said on Twitter.
Similar player source quotes were relayed to various reporters. Mike Silver of Yahoo! Sports talked to an NFLPA* source who had a telling quote, when he said the NFL “will never learn” about backing players into a corner.
The question is whether it will be difficult for the players and owners to get past any emotions from Thursday. It sounds like the players continue to have issues with the agreement presented by the owners.
As long as leadership steps up, the remaining issues shouldn’t be that hard to negotiate. It just may not happen as quickly as owners, players, and fans want.