Mike Vrabel will be suspended for his first tackle next season

[Bump]

if there is a next season

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=6232940

MARCO ISLAND, Fla. -- Chiefs veteran linebacker Mike Vrabel has an idea for progressing talks between the NFL Players Association and the owners who have locked them out: Cut out the middle men.

Vrabel, speaking to ESPN's George Smith in a roundtable interview during a break at the former union's annual meeting Friday, suggested meetings that don't include commissioner Roger Goodell and the NFL's lead labor attorneys would be to everyone's advantage.

Clayton: Owners' cap math doesn't work

Before the NFLPA decertified last Friday, owners increased their offer from $131 million in player costs in 2011 to $141 million. But a pre-2008 salary cap simply doesn't work with 2011 salaries, writes John Clayton. Story

"We are willing to negotiate. But we don't want to negotiate with Bob Batterman, Jeff Pash or Roger Goodell," Vrabel said, referring to the NFL's outside labor counsel in Batterman and its executive vice president and lead counsel in Pash. "Our executive committee needs to negotiate with Jerry Jones, Bob Kraft, Jerry Richardson -- their executive committee. People that are willing and can agree to a deal. Jeff Pash can't agree to a deal."

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said the league accepts Vrabel's invitation to negotiate but didn't rule out the top executives' participation.

"The NFL's negotiating team -- accompanied by the three owners Mike mentioned, Jerry Jones, Jerry Richardson and Robert Kraft -- is prepared to meet immediately. Just tell us when and where," Aiello said of the Cowboys owner, the Panthers owner and the Patriots owner.

A week after the union decertified and a lockout began shortly thereafter, Vrabel was among several players who continued to ratchet up the rhetoric publicly, targeting the owners group's motives and means in the NFL's labor stalemate.

Pete Kendall, the NFLPA's permanent player representative, told reporters labor negotiations broke down last week because the owners' last proposal would have made salaries a fixed cost and eliminated the players' chance to share in higher-than-projected revenue growth.

"That's a fundamental change as to the way the business has been done with the players -- player percentage always has been tied to revenues," said Kendall, a former 13-year offensive lineman who retired after the 2008 season.

Colts center and player representative Jeff Saturday, speaking to ESPN's Smith along with Vrabel, Saints quarterback Drew Brees, Broncos safety and player rep Brian Dawkins and Ravens player representative Domonique Foxworth, bashed a letter Goodell sent to all NFL players Thursday in which he detailed the owners' version of events that led to last Friday's lockout.

“

The NFL's negotiating team -- accompanied by the three owners Mike mentioned, Jerry Jones, Jerry Richardson and Robert Kraft -- is prepared to meet immediately. Just tell us when and where.
” -- NFL spokesman Greg Aiello

"It's his attempt to, you know, to divide us as a group of men," Saturday said. "You know, anytime you send something out like that after we've been in negotiations for two-years plus, you know, 15-day extension -- all the things we've been through -- you know it's just one of those tactics different people use during the negotiations."

Mediation cut off last Friday, and the union dissolved itself, allowing players to file suit in federal court. Hours later, when the old collective bargaining agreement expired, owners locked out the players.

"The reality is we've been communicating to our men throughout this whole process about what the offers really are, what the numbers really are, things that we have tried to agree upon that have not been agreed upon and as a group of men we knew it wasn't a deal that our membership would accept," Saturday said.

In a speech Friday to players at the NFLPA's annual meeting, NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith said he won't be paid during the work stoppage -- the league's first since 1987. Goodell and Pash, the league's lead labor negotiator, already said they would reduce their salaries to a dollar each.

"Our players are locked out," Smith said during a brief session with reporters. "The league made a unilaterial decision to punish the people who made this game great."

Smith said he does not consider Goodell's letter an attempt to engage in good-faith negotiations. The league, he said, could attempt to restart talks by writing, instead, to lawyers representing the players now that the union has dissolved.

"Let's not kid ourselves. Jeff Pash ... knows that class counsel can always engage in discussions with counsel for the National Football League to have discussions relating to a settlement," Smith said. "He knows what letter should have been sent."

Kendall described the league's 11th-hour offer as "kind of the old switcheroo," saying that throughout negotiations the players' chance to share in increased revenues had been a key component of how to divide the NFL's yearly take of more than $9 billion.

Kendall said the discussions until talks stopped last Friday -- the 16th day of federal mediation -- always revolved around the premise that if the rise in league revenues exceeded a certain percentage each year, players would get a cut.

"The most important thing is getting back to playing football again," Brees said. "And that's why we're enjoining a lockout. Like all these guys have said, we, our intention was never to get locked out, we wanted to get a fair deal done. We always had guys there to do that."

Brees addressed the perceived Catch-22 surrounding rookie prospects' decision over whether to attend next month's draft, set for April 28-30.

Goodell letter

Goodell NFL commissioner Roger Goodell sent a letter to 1,900 NFL players on Thursday. Read it here. Letter

"Each rookie has -- if they've been invited to New York -- they absolutely have the option of going to New York," Brees said in the interview with ESPN. "I think to our point it was -- how do you feel about walking across the stage and shaking the hand of the commissioner who just locked you out? And as great an experience as it is to get drafted, which it absolutely is, I think the even greater experience is to play your first game, and to have to opportunity to win a championship and right now that's being threatened with this lockout."

While the addition of an immediate 18-game schedule was tabled in the negotiations early last week, the possibility for instituting it in future seasons -- with the players' approval -- was retained.

"Eighteen games does nothing for our health and safety," said Foxworth, the former defensive back and Ravens player rep who retired in 2009. "We're not looking to make any financial gains, we're looking to protect former players and make protections and safety improvements for current players."

But the players told ESPN's Smith it wasn't a deal-breaker.

"No. We'll negotiate on the economics of football," Vrabel said. "We're not negotiating on health and safety. And as far as we're concerned 18 games lies right in the way of our players health and safety."

Pash told the AP this week that the owners' final proposal was for a 10-year CBA. Kendall confirmed that.

"A 10-year, fair deal might be something worth considering," Kendall said. "A 10-year deal where the players don't participate in any of the upside is not a deal that I think is ... something that the players should have taken."

An April 6 hearing date is set for U.S. District Court in Minnesota for a ruling on the players' request for an injunction that would end the lockout.

But a settlement between the owners and players before the hearing is unlikely, an NFLPA source told ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter earlier this week. The source said a ruling on the players' injunction request was expected within a week of the hearing.

"We're confident that this injunction is gonna be granted," Foxworth said. "And I think the message to the fans is -- all the fans should just unite and root for this at this point. You don't have a team to root for at this point, you wanna root for your team when the season comes, you need to be outside the courthouse with your face painted cheering for the judge to grant this injunction. Because I think simply put if we are granted this injunction there will be football."

[Just Passin' By]

Originally Posted by kcfanXIII

dude, if you have your real name attached to your account so somebody could google your name, and find posts by you and about you from here on chiefsplanet, your and idiot. especially with the way people talk on here. if somebody was that interested in dane's life, a lot of the things he said to other people would look far worse then some poster randomly calling him a pedophile with no evidence to back it up..

Hell, some employers actually require that you give them to them.

[kcfanXIII]

Originally Posted by Just Passin' By

Hell, some employers actually require that you give them to them.

A. no ****ing way would i admit this place to an employer.

B. that still goes beyond a simple background check.

[Just Passin' By]

Originally Posted by kcfanXIII

A. no ****ing way would i admit this place to an employer.

B. that still goes beyond a simple background check.

Hey, if all words were on the table, I'd be with you on this, and my preference is for no words to be censored, since that's what the filters are for. I also don't think Laz's being a dick was ban worthy. But if other words are blocked, I don't see justifying calling someone a pedophile without evidence, unless it's clearly a joke.

[Rausch]

Originally Posted by kcfanXIII

A. no ****ing way would i admit this place to an employer.

B. that still goes beyond a simple background check.

If they want to it won't cost $50 to find everything you've posted.

EVER...

[Chiefnj2]

Originally Posted by Just Passin' By

You called a man a audiophile without anything to back it up. In the real world, you'd be lucky to get away with your teeth after something like that.

Is "audiophile" some CP auto correct, that stands for something else?

An audiophile, from Latin audio "I hear" and Greek philos "loving," is a hobbyist who seeks high-quality audio reproduction via the use of non-mass-produced high-end audio electronics.

[Just Passin' By]

Originally Posted by Chiefnj2

Is "audiophile" some CP auto correct, that stands for something else?

An audiophile, from Latin audio "I hear" and Greek philos "loving," is a hobbyist who seeks high-quality audio reproduction via the use of non-mass-produced high-end audio electronics.

Yes, DaFace put audiophile in as an auto-correct for the term referring to adults who would prefer the sexual company of children.

[Chiefnj2]

Originally Posted by Just Passin' By

Yes, DaFace put audiophile in as an auto-correct for the term referring to adults who would prefer the sexual company of children.

Thanks for clarifying.

I'm not sure what to make of the dispute.

You shouldn't call someone a pedo. However, it's allowed by CP, whereas veiled threats of violence aren't.

Laz baited him in and gut hooked Dane.

[Saul Good]

Originally Posted by Just Passin' By

Hey, if all words were on the table, I'd be with you on this, and my preference is for no words to be censored, since that's what the filters are for. I also don't think Laz's being a dick was ban worthy. But if other words are blocked, I don't see justifying calling someone a audiophile without evidence, unless it's clearly a joke.

If you're worried about that, then don't say you're making a porno with a guy's 14 year old daughter.

[Just Passin' By]

Originally Posted by Saul Good

If you're worried about that, then don't say you're making a porno with a guy's 14 year old daughter.

R8er made the porno crack. Dane said something like "mother, wife and daughter". It was R8er who followed that up with the 14 year old comment. That was on R8er, not Dane.

All I'm saying is that either all words should be clear or something as charged as the word in question should be considered at least as serious as that 3 letter insult to homosexuals. Hell, at least that word has alternate meanings.

[Saul Good]

Originally Posted by Just Passin' By

R8er made the porno crack. Dane said something like "mother, wife and daughter". It was R8er who followed that up with the 14 year old comment. That was on R8er, not Dane.

All I'm saying is that either all words should be clear or something as charged as the word in question should be considered at least as serious as that 3 letter insult to homosexuals. Hell, at least that word has alternate meanings.

So be it. If you can explain that away, then you can explain away why someone called you a pedo.

[Just Passin' By]

Originally Posted by Saul Good

So be it. If you can explain that away, then you can explain away why someone called you a pedo.

I'm not explaining anything away. R8er was looking to start shit. R8er started shit. Dane was happy to oblige. R8er added the 14 year old part to the back and forth.

That's just how it went down.

[SAUTO]

R8er has said that dane was making pornos for quite some time. That wasn't something that came up thee last day or two. Dane had time to think up a response
Posted via Mobile Device

[Rausch]

Originally Posted by JASONSAUTO

R8er has said that dane was making pornos for quite some time.

[Saul Good]

Originally Posted by Just Passin' By

I'm not explaining anything away. R8er was looking to start shit. R8er started shit. Dane was happy to oblige. R8er added the 14 year old part to the back and forth.

That's just how it went down.

So be it. Neither of them are victims. In the preposterously unlikely event that Dane ever has to answer for why the words "pedo" and "danemccloud" come up together in a google search, he brought it on himself. Dane had better hope they don't search for "AIDS".

http://chiefsplanet.com/BB/search.php?searchid=496966

[TrebMaxx]

Frankly I think the owners and the players should both just go **** themselves. We need the NFLFA (NFL Fans Association) to tell them who really makes football what it is. If there were no fans would there be a league? The high ticket prices, parking fees, food and beverage cost at stadiums is reaching a point that a lot fans can no longer afford. I think it would be great to boycott the first couple of weekends games whenever the next season starts. Both by not going to the games and not watching on T.V. just to send a message from those who truly pay the paychecks.