FanHouse DemauriceSmith

DeMaurice Smith didn't get what he was hoping for Tuesday, but the head of the NFL players' union did walk away from his latest meeting with NFL owners with some good reasons to feel encouraged about the state of the negotiations.

Smith has said publicly that he's waiting for the owners to submit to the union a proposal for a new collective bargaining agreement, since it was the owners who opted out of the last one. That didn't happen Tuesday, as the only issues discussed in a five-hour meeting were "non-core" issues such as the drug policy and potential changes to the commissioner-controlled player discipline system.

But NFL commissioner Roger Goodell was actually at this meeting (he wasn't at the last one, in July), and the fact that anything at all was discussed made it the most encouraging session of the three the sides have held so far. In addition, they did resolve to meet again soon -- most likely in mid-October -- and continue Tuesday's discussions.

The NFL still hasn't given up on the idea that it will eventually be able to suspend Minnesota Vikings defensive linemen Kevin Williams and Pat Williams for violating its drug policy in the StarCaps case. There remains the chance the league will further appeal the decision by the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals that upheld a federal judge's decision that the players could not be suspended. But on a conference call with reporters Monday afternoon, NFL union head DeMaurice Smith said the union and the NFL have had discussions about the drug policy in light of the StarCaps case, and he thinks there's a chance this could result in changes to the policy.

"I believe there is a resolution to this matter that can be collectively bargained," Smith said. "I do not think the only solution is continued litigation."

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Over the past several months, NFLPA chief DeMaurice Smith has accused NFL owners of planning to lock out players in 2011 and has publicly criticized commissioner Roger Goodell for failing to attend the last round of collective bargaining negotiations. But on the day before the next negotiating session between players and owners -- the third such session overall and the first since mid-July -- Smith struck a less combative tone and expressed hope that Tuesday's meeting would help move the sides toward an agreement.

"I'm looking forward to hopefully hearing the first proposal from the league tomorrow," Smith said Monday afternoon in a conference call. "I would like nothing more than to have a deal before we move into an uncapped year."

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- NFL players' union head DeMaurice Smith was here today to talk to brief Giants players on the state of collective bargaining negotiations with the owners. On his way out, he stopped to talk to two reporters -- one from FanHouse and one from the New York Times. And it's pretty safe to say he isn't happy about the picture that commissioner Roger Goodell painted when Goodell spoke with reporters last week.

"When they're ready to give us a proposal, and they're ready to sit down and negotiate, we'll do it," Smith said. "I've been ready to do that since the day I was elected. I was at the last negotiating meeting and he wasn't. That's not to say I didn't enjoy watching a man read a memo. But why don't we get to the point where we're actually negotiating instead of just talking in the press?"

NEW YORK -- NFL commissioner Roger Goodell announced his final Michael Vick decision to a group of about 20 reporters in a conference room at the league offices in Manhattan on Thursday afternoon. FanHouse attended the session, which lasted about an hour and a half and covered a wide range of topics that began with Vick and also touched on the Cowboys' video board, the blackout/ticket-sales issues in Jacksonville, the upcoming labor negotiations and several other topics.

But the news of the day was Vick, and Goodell's explanation of his reasoning for reinstating Vick effective Week 3 was interesting. The commissioner said, as he has said before, that he's "looking for a success story" with Vick, and that the goal is to make sure the troubled QB becomes a good and productive member of society off the field moving forward. Keeping Vick out for the first two games of the regular season seemed less like a punitive measure on Goodell's part, rather than one designed to take into account the number of different things Vick has going on in his life right now.

After a delay of more than a month, the NFL and its players will meet Tuesday for their second collective bargaining session. There are many issues to discuss as the sides work to avoid an uncapped 2010 season and a 2011 lockout of players by the owners. But according to sources close to the situation, one issue the players plan to raise during these negotiations is their desire to have some say in an NFL discipline policy currently controlled 100 percent by commissioner Roger Goodell.

FanHouse's Stephanie Stradley wrote in-depth about this issue a couple of weeks ago, and it's an issue that came up earlier this month when players union head DeMaurice Smith met with player reps from the 32 teams to plot strategy in advance of the next round of negotiations. According to a source familiar with that meeting, players are very upset over the idea of the commissioner as judge, jury and executioner when it comes to the league's personal conduct policy, and have expressed to union leadership a desire to seek some changes to the system.

What the union hasn't decided, however, is what form those changes should take.

The union's message to its players as the collective bargaining negotiations begin is coalescing. Union head DeMaurice Smith told FanHouse last month that he believes the owners intend to lock out the players in 2011. And according to Pro Football Talk, citing a "league source," Steelers QB Charlie Batch told rookies at the league's rookie symposium that there's a "100 percent chance" of a lockout that year.

Smith seems to have a solid handle on the media/message part of his job. He wants it made clear, to the players and the public, that any threat of a work stoppage is coming from the owners' end. The owners are the ones who opted out of the current CBA. The owners are the ones refusing to share the finanical information Smith is requesting. And if there's no football in 2011, it will be because the owners decided to lock out the players, NOT because the players went on strike. It is crucial for Smith to communicate this message to the players, because he believes it is crucial for the players to communicate it to the public.

If the NFL's owners and players can't negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement by March, then 2010 season will be played without a salary cap. This is not a desirable eventuality for either side, though there are certainly some individuals on each side who might have reason to think it is. Bears tight end Desmond Clark, who apparently has his own internet radio show, recently outlined the reason he thinks it'd be a bad idea.

Clark's comments (excerpt after the jump) raise an interesting issue, but it's not one the players' union can be very happy about him raising. Because by raising it, Clark is playing right into the hands of the NFL and its owners as they attempt to employ a divide-and-conquer strategy against the players in the upcoming CBA negotiations.

The day after his first (and, so far, only) collective bargaining negotiating session with the NFL, new players union head DeMaurice Smith was on Capitol Hill, beginning to build congressional support for the prevention a lockout by NFL owners in 2011. This was back on June 4, and it didn't get a lot of attention at the time. But it's yet another indication that the CBA negotiations between players and owners could get very ugly.

Smith and Baltimore Ravens defensive back Domonique Foxworth attended the meetings with the House Judiciary Committee, the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Senate Commerce Committee. Both described the sessions as "meet-and-greets" and declined to go into detail about what was discussed. But there are a couple of ways in which the union hopes Congress can factor into its strategy going forward.

If you're wondering how hard the battle lines are going to be drawn in the coming CBA negotiations between the NFL and its players, union, look no further than this spin-heavy news item. The Green Bay Packers released financial information that shows a $20.1 million profit for the fiscal year that ended March 31, and Packers CEO Mark Murphy used the occasion to cry poverty.

Players union head DeMaurice Smith has called on NFL owners to release audited financial statements to support their claim that they're struggling financially. The owners have so far refused, but the Packers, as a publicly owned franchise, are the one franchise that has no choice in the matter. Their financial information shows an increase in total revenue from $241 million to $247.9 million.

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