Fabian Washington, CB, 5-11, 175, drafted in 2005 out of Nebraska, has some things to say about the current owners’ lockout…
Well, it’s official…the players are locked out of The Castle at One Winning Drive, Owings Mills, Maryland….
Seventeen days of mediation did not produce a new collective bargaining agreement and, as the reports repeat over and over again, the conversation now heads to the courtroom. There are many hurdles to clear before a new CBA is reached and peace can be achieved.
DeMaurice Smith was out to get a Total Victory in court all along for the players. Once Judge Doty froze that $4 Billion in owners’ TV money, DeMaurice knew he had ’em…you could see it in his eyes…and all DeMaurice Smith can see now is “WINNING”…i.e., decertification (check), antitrust lawsuit (check), injunction against work stoppage by owners (still to come), bust up salary cap and franchise tag (the goal), rewrite free agency as we know it (check on the way)…
There is somewhat of a model for what is going on now from 1989. The union decertified then, too…and the court prevented the owners from further work stoppage until a new collective agreement could be settled…which did not happen until 1993. But the league played on until the new CBA was reached—basically the model of the CBA which has just expired.
One funny sidebar: when the union decertified in 1989, individual players were asked to voluntarily contribute “union dues” to the shell organization (basically a trade association) still representing the players. As I recall, very few players ponied up the voluntary “dues”…
Anyway, Aaron Williams of the Carroll County Times wrote a nice piece on the reaction to the news by Fabian Washington, a journeyman in the NFL who perhaps most represents the “typical” player in the league affected by all these latest developments…
Here’s Aaron’s report of what Fabian had to say:
“We need a deal that’s going to last. I’m not talking about three years. Don’t just do a deal to do a deal. It needs to be something that’s going to stand for a long time.”
“I’m ready, I’ve been getting prepared for this for the last two years,” Washington said. “I’ve got my COBRA insurance and my finances are straight. I’m pretty good.”
“My favorite line is, ‘It is what it is,’ but I’m a little frustrated,” he said. “I wanted something to get done, but this thing needs to get done right.”
“I do feel sorry for some of the free agent rookies from last year and the seventh-rounders and sixth-rounders,” Washington said. “Those guys have to suffer along with everybody else. Remember, you’ve got to pay Uncle Sam and your agent fees. Your money gets chopped away real quick.”
“It’s not what you get paid. It’s what you get to take home. There’s a bunch of hundred-thousandaires. That’s the majority of the league— it’s hundred-thousandaires. Some millionaires are sitting back waiting and not working, but a lot of guys need to be at work.”
“I think DeMaurice Smith (exec director of the NFLPA and lead counsel) is doing a fantastic job,” Washington said. “I’m behind him 110 percent. De is a lawyer, not a football player running a union. He’s going to put us in the best situation possible.”
That last quote is a big deal. It speaks volumes to the degree of faith the foot soldiers like Fabian have in their association’s leadership. Me, I’d be questioning some of DeMaurice Smith’s agenda right now. It seems like Smith had already gotten a pretty nice package of concessions from the owners as of last Thursday. I would have taken that deal on the table for my players…and live to fight another day. But obviously DeMaurice Smith is thinking way further down the road…he wants a revolution in the way the NFL handles frree agency. He wants to eliminate or seriously expand salary caps. He wants the “franchise tag” eliminated…
An unrestricted free agent, Washington said he’ll continue his normal work regimen as if the season is going to start on time. “I’m going to keep working out because you can get a call any day,” Washington said. “You can’t be out of shape. I’m preparing as if we’re going to have a full season. I’ve still got hope.”
The real problem in all of Fabian Washington’s future prospects as a paid NFL player is: right now, the owners have problems with each other moreso than with the players… Owners want parity by wage restrictions so salaries don’t get out of control… and the little-money owners don’t want to have to sign the 100-million dollar guy…but the big-money owners want the freedom to sign the 100-million dollar guy… so they kinda screw their own pooch of inequity… With big-money owners vs. little-money owners, how can there be parity?… That’s the struggle the owners are trying to solve…
They thought they could do it with a concession-laden extension of the now-defunct CBA…but DeMaurice Smith pulled the rug out from under them. Smith is out to undo salary and free-agency restrictions once and for all. And he’s taking the anti-trust litigation route.
Like Fabian Washington, though, I don’t get paid enough to worry about how all this legalese gets settled. I’ve got to trust in the basic faith that this whole pot of NFL gold is too big to screw up. Like Fabian says, I’m just going to keep working out…because you could get a call any day…
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