Although many players have spoken out forcefully against the proposed Collective Bargaining Agreement, the president of the NFL Players Association believes a clear majority will vote to pass it.
NFLPA President Eric Winston told Peter King for Football Morning in America that he sees the players voting yes.
“I would think it would pass. I would think it would pass by a lot. It’s important that we let the process play out, and important that all players understand the issues and vote their conscience,” Winston said.
Winston said the players who have spoken out against the CBA on social media often weren’t involved in the negotiations and don’t know all the facts. Those are often the highly paid players who know they’re going to be in the league for years, but those players are a minority.
“There’s people,” Winston said, “I call ‘em Twitter lawyers, who think somehow this deal was put together quickly. These have been some pretty long and painstaking negotiations. One thing this has not been is rushed. De went to every team during the fall, let ‘em know exactly where we were. We spent 20 hours since the season ended with our player reps. There have been some misconceptions about the process. You’re not going to get everything you want in a negotiation, and we certainly didn’t.”
The question is whether Winston can convince a majority of union members that it’s a good deal. Voting concludes on Thursday night.