Let's all take a minute, step back, and consider what was actually accomplished on Thursday. Roger Gooddell and DeMaurice Smith reportedly talked on the phone for about an hour, and then the owners voted to ratify a new CBA, pending NFLPA recertifaction and its mutual approval of the deal.
That last part is very important. By choosing to approve the CBA first on their own terms, the NFL basically put the player reps in an awkward position. If the players decline to approve the deal, then it's a PR nightmare for the NFLPA, and they are suddenly cast as "the bad guys." However, should they be pressured into accepting a deal and recertifying by Tuesday, the players may be signing a bad deal.
In a conversation with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Roddy White has offered a great breakdown of what's to come.
Smith and other player reps were naturally rubbed the wrong way. Whether this was caused by a failure to communicate or otherwise is still not certain. However, the owners very well could have changed a few details around at their meeting, and so the players certainly have every right to thoroughly examine these documents.
Ultimately, what it all boils down to is the media getting carried away with themselves and the owners trying to pressure the players into accepting a deal agreed to on the owners' terms.. Here's what some Falcons and ex-Falcons had to say on Twitter:
Roddy White (roddywhiteTV):
Ok, so we agreed to the big parts of the CBA still have some little things to iron out once we establish ourselves as a union again. So we are a couple days away and the owners have to relax with the deadline of tuesday we doing this on our time. It still court cases we got to get resolved and get through and all that stuff won't be done by Tuesday
Brent Grimes (BGrimes20):
I was getting a whole lot of premature "the lockout is over!!" tweets earlier... Everybody needs to pump their brakes & wait til it's official
Jay Feely (jayfeely):
A 10 yr agreement has implication on current players future players and past players. It is our duty to proceed with caution and logic
Eric Weems (ericweems):
They trying to game us no deal
Akeem Dent (Akeem_Dent51):
"@rcobb18This is a soap opera... #changingthechannel" Exactly lol
That's pretty much the entire range of emotion and response you're going to get. There are guys like Weems who were understandably put off by the power move the owners pulled. Guys like Roddy and Grimes point out that everyone got ahead of themselves. And then there's Dent, who like many is a little fed up with everything.
However, Feely probably made the best point in that this is a 10 year deal with zero opt outs. If and when the players agree, their livelihood depends on this deal for the next decade. In the world of business, you always have to look out for your own interests, and the players would be stupid not to.
For more on the lockout, check out SB Nation. For more on the Falcons, check out The Falcoholic.