Appeals hearing concludes; ruling will come 'in due course'

The most important court proceedings in the NFL's offseason of litigation came to an end on Friday with Judge Kermit Bye urging the two sides to negotiate on their own and that a decision would come "in due course."

Lawyers representing the players and owners met at the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis Friday morning to present their arguments to the three judges. Around 30 players were also in attendance, as was Jets owner Woody Johnson.

The hearing was regarding the league's appeal of Judge Susan Nelson's April 25 decision to end the lockout. The league was granted a permanent 'stay' of Nelson's ruling, allowing the lockout to continue until the appeal process concludes.

Paul Clement argued for the owners. He questioned the validity of the players' union's decertification and further argued that the court should wait for the pending decision by the National Labor Relations Board on the decertification. Clement also maintained that the Norris-LaGuardia Act keeps the court from ruling on the lockout injunction because this is a labor issue not an antitrust issue.

One of the most striking statements came when Clement said the lockout should be allowed to last at least one year as a tool to get a new deal. The league believes it is allowed to use the lockout to expedite the formation of a new Collective Bargaining Agreement.

Ted Olson argued for the players and said the "union is not in existence anymore," citing the players' decertification in 1993 and that the current decertification was approved by all 32 teams. Olson also referenced Judge David Doty's decision to make $4 billion of TV contract money unavailable to owners during the lockout. Olson also pointed out that the NFL has violated antitrust laws.

In Clement's rebuttal, he mentioned that players appeared to be enjoying the lockout.

Judges Steven Colloton and William Benton, the two who voted for the permanent stay in the court's 2-1 decision on May 16, asked all of the questions during the hearing. Reports indicate most of the questions were directed toward Olson.

Judge Bye, the dissenter in the permanent stay ruling, concluded the hearing by telling both sides that the ruling will come in "due course" and that the decision will be one that "neither side will like." He added, "We won't be hurt if the parties settle."

The league and players met in secret Wednesday and Thursday in a western Chicago suburb. Commissioner Roger Goodell and owners Robert Kraft, Jerry Richardson, Jerry Jones, John Mara and Art Rooney II were there along with NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith and five players — Domonique Foxworth, Mike Vrabel, Kevin Mawae, Tony Richardson and Jeff Saturday. Chief Magistrate Judge Arthur Boylan brought the two sides together for the mediation talks.

Twitter reports from NFL Network's Albert Breer and Gabe Feldman, National Football Post's Andrew Brandt and Chicago Tribune's Brad Biggs were used for this story.

The way we see it

With the hearing concluded, the waiting game is back on. The fact that Judge Bye said the ruling will come in "due course" could provide optimism that a decision will come sooner than later. Judge Nelson took three weeks to make her decision to enjoin the lockout, so late June would appear to be the ballpark of when a ruling could come down.

The sooner the ruling is made, the better. If the owners win and the lockout remains in place, the players, who cannot afford to miss a season, would be forced agree to a new labor agreement with the owners. If the lockout is lifted, the league would have to open its doors and choose the rules to play under, assuming there isn't a new labor agreement agreed to first.

This week's news of the "secret" mediation meetings in Chicago was a positive sign that the two sides appear to be getting serious and keeping lawyers out of negotiations. There is a possibility that a deal could be reached before the court rules, and that would benefit both the league and players, as Judge Bye has suggested that it's possible neither side will like the result.

While the wording in the court's decision to grant the permanent stay would lead one to believe the league is in for another court victory, the players just have to convince one judge to agree with Judge Bye, and anything is possible. Fans should hope, however, that talks continue between the two sides toward agreeing on a new deal outside the courtroom.

Source: http://www.profootballweekly.com/2011/06/03/appeals-hearing-concludes-ruling-will-come-in-due

Clemson Tigers Florida Gators Northwestern Wildcats Wichita State University Nebraska Cornhuskers North Carolina Tar Heels

Bradford's growing leadership on display in Rams workouts

The lockout certainly hasn't seemed to slow down Sam Bradford very much. Whether it was the four-day workout session in St. Charles, Mo., last week that included more than 30 teammates, or the workouts on tap in the Phoenix area next week, or his under-the-radar throwing session in Oklahoma with a group of receivers that included Rams slot receiver Danny Amendola, we hear the Rams' second-year starting quarterback has been spending a good part of his time absorbing a significantly revamped offense, courtesy of new coordinator Josh McDaniels, who made it his business to get a copy of his playbook in Bradford's hands at the end of April, when the lockout was briefly lifted.

Sources on the scene in St. Louis told PFW there appeared to be a dramatic difference in Bradford's leadership skills, which were far from shabby to begin with in a rookie campaign that earned high marks from most league observers. "Leadership wise, it was like he was a different person," the source said. "He really seemed committed to teaching the offense to the players. At one practice late in the week that was conducted at a high school (Lutheran South), he had everybody in an actual classroom at the end of the day. I tell you, Steven Jackson is great, but it really looks like the Rams are en route to becoming Bradford's team."

That said, while Bradford's commanding presence might have stood out, we hear both MLB James Laurinaitis and CB Ron Bartell also showed typically strong leadership skills at the St. Louis-based workouts. "Bartell knows he needs to be a bigger leader without (Oshiomogho) Atogwe here anymore," the source said.

Source: http://www.profootballweekly.com/2011/06/03/bradfords-growing-leadership-on-display-in-rams-wo

Nate Burleson Otto Graham Paul Brown Marion Motley Jim Brown Lou Groza

SEC presidents clamp down

The SEC presidents and chancellors went against the wishes of their football coaches on Friday and cut the number of scholarship players a school could sign each year from 28 to 25.

On Wednesday at the league's spring meetings in Destin, Fla., the coaches voted 12-0 in favor of keeping the number at 28 to better be able to manage scholarship numbers and prepare for the unknown such as recruits not qualifying academically.

Clearly, that vote didn't hold much water with the presidents or SEC commissioner Mike Slive, who advocated putting in legislation that would effectively end oversigning in the SEC. Slive said the SEC would propose the 25-signee rule to the NCAA and anticipates the rest of the country following suit.

The presidents and chancellors also voted to no longer allow one-year graduate students to transfer to the SEC and play just one season. That rule goes into effect Oct. 1 of�this year. Had that rule been in�place last year, Jeremiah�Masoli wouldn't have been allowed to play his senior season at Ole Miss after graduating from Oregon and enrolling in a graduate program at Ole Miss.

The SEC will also have oversight on those players placed on medical scholarship and has banned coaches from being involved in 7-on-7 events for high school prospects and will no longer allow 7-on-7 events to be held on SEC campuses.

In short, the SEC coaches didn't win many of the battles this week in Destin.

Mississippi State, however, did succeed in its quest to keep the cowbell tradition alive. The SEC voted to allow Mississippi State fans to continue bringing cowbells into Scott Field for another season as long as they don't ring them while the game is going on. Mississippi State will have to pay a $30,000 fine for violations of that policy a year ago.

Source: http://espn.go.com/blog/ncfnation/post/_/id/42748/sec-presidents-clamp-down

James Farrior Fred Davis Peter Mayer Nate Burleson Otto Graham Paul Brown

New oversigning rules won't ruin SEC

On the surface, the SEC coaches lost the oversigning battle on Friday.

Their presidents and chancellors voted unanimously at the spring meetings in Destin, Fla., to cut the number of scholarship players a school could sign each year from 28 to 25.

The SEC league office will also oversee the medical redshirt process, which creates additional scholarship room when players are injured and can no longer play.

There’s no doubt that SEC coaches aren’t giddy about this legislation. After all, they voted unanimously earlier this week to keep the number of scholarship players a school could sign at 28, which they say gives them more flexibility to manage their rosters.

But guess what?

These new rules, which the SEC will propose at the NCAA level, still aren’t going to completely end oversigning.

Loopholes remain, and you can bet coaches will find them.

For instance, there’s nothing in this new legislation that says you can no longer back-count players.

So if a school signs 25 players one year and four of those players fail to qualify academically, you could hypothetically place those four players in prep school for the fall, get them back in January and still sign 25 other players in that February class.

When you add it all up, the total number of new players joining the team that August would be 29. The catch is that the four enrollees from prep school in this particular scenario would count against the previous class.

SEC associate commissioner Greg Sankey confirmed Friday that players enrolling in January could conceivably be back-counted.

“It depends on what the institution has available,” Sankey said.

In other words, a school can still do so if there’s room.

Here’s the other thing: If a school only has 18 scholarships to give that February, what’s keeping it from signing 22 or 23 players?

That’s still oversigning. It’s just not signing more than what is now the maximum number of 25.

The Big Ten has a hard cap, meaning schools can sign no more than three players over the 85-scholarship limit.

The SEC’s new policy is more of a soft cap.

Equally noteworthy is that the SEC did not eliminate the practice of grayshirting, which drew national scorn this past year.

The league proposed a national rule that would count summer enrollees on that year’s scholarship total, but didn’t pass any legislation that would ban the practice of a player coming in the summer on scholarship, taking a few classes and then deferring enrollment until that next January.

SEC commissioner Mike Slive played a lead role in adopting this legislation and called it the most comprehensive roster management policy in the country.

“I believe the coaches can manage this way and still have the flexibility to do all of the things they need to do,” Slive said.

The questions that fans have: How does this impact SEC schools’ ability to bring in great players, and how does it affect them on the field?

After talking with several coaches and administrators in the league following the presidents’ vote, the general feeling is that this new legislation doesn’t have quite the bite that maybe some have portrayed it as having.

The intent is clearly to make sure kids aren’t getting squeezed out and/or being forced out to clear up scholarship room, and that's a good thing.

The onus will be on coaches to better manage their scholarship numbers on the front end, and there’s probably going to be fewer opportunities for academic at-risk players. That's not a good thing.

But as Steve Spurrier said earlier this week, “We’ll keep playing anyway. They’re not going to cancel football.”

Source: http://espn.go.com/blog/ncfnation/post/_/id/42750/new-oversigning-rules-wont-ruin-sec

Otto Graham Paul Brown Marion Motley Jim Brown Lou Groza Dante Lavelli

Arizona Little Leaguer Dies After Being Hit In The Chest By A Pitch

Source: http://www.sbnation.com/2011/6/3/2205954/hayden-walton-dies-arizona-little-league-hit-by-pitch

James Farrior Fred Davis Peter Mayer Nate Burleson Otto Graham Paul Brown

Faulk attends workout despite uncertain future

In some ways, Kevin Faulk was a bit of a surprise member at the Patriots' highly publicized (by the media, not the players) workouts this week. Faulk is an unrestricted free agent who missed all but two games in 2010 after tearing his ACL. But it makes sense that the player who is synonymous with the team that drafted him would be on hand at Boston College as the Pats try to stay fresh during the lockout.

Faulk told ESPN Boston that even though he is a free agent, he is a "Patriot for life." The do-it-all player is one of Bill Belichick's favorite players, on and off the field, but in his absence, Danny Woodhead emerged as a fan favorite and an above-average replacement for the veteran. Woodhead had more than 900 total yards and six scores.

In addition to Woodhead, the Patriots drafted Shane Vereen in the second round, a back with good hands who would play a role similar to Faulk. They used a third-round pick on RB Stevan Ridley, more of an inside runner.

We hear that the Patriots likely will re-sign Faulk, who would take a hometown discount, and invite him to camp. But Faulk, who turns 35 on Sunday, would be fifth on the RB depth chart and would have to compete in camp for a roster spot. If Faulk is healthy and still effective, Belichick would probably want to find a spot for him, and Faulk being involved in the player-organized workout further proves his commitment to finishing his career in New England.

Follow Kevin Fishbain on Twitter

Source: http://www.profootballweekly.com/2011/06/03/faulk-attends-workout-despite-uncertain-future

New England Patriots Denver Broncos Arizona Cardinals Kansas City Chiefs San Francisco 49ers Seattle Seahawks

NFL Lockout Talks Move Toward Settlement From Mediation; End In Sight?

Source: http://stlouis.sbnation.com/st-louis-rams/2011/6/3/2204355/nfl-lockout-talks-settlement-mediation

Indianapolis Colts Jacksonville Jaguars New Orleans Saints Tampa Bay Buccaneers Tennessee Titans Buffalo Bills