After the circus-like atmosphere surrounding the NFL labor negotiations on Thursday, things have been relatively quiet so far on Friday. No sudden press conferences have been held by the owners, and so far the only public comment from the players is this statement from NFLPA president Kevin Mawae.
"Player leadership is discussing the most recent written proposal with the NFL, which includes a settlement agreement, deal terms and the right process for addressing recertification," the statement from Mawae reads. "There will not be any further NFLPA statements today out of respect for the Kraft family while they mourn the loss of Myra Kraft."
Coming into today some were thinking a vote could be held by players, but now it's looking like this could drag on into the weekend and possibly early next week. Chris Mortensen reports that players want the owners to reconsider not having an opt-out clause seven years into the 10-year CBA proposal. Also, players want to vote in person at the team facilities to recertify as a union.
Whether or not these issues will be solved today is unclear. Personally I don't see why the things in Mortensen's report are major enough to hold everything up, but that's just me. Obviously the lack of an opt-out clause is potentially a big deal, but what is the need if everything else in the CBA is fine? I'd much rather not have to deal with the threat of another work stoppage until 2021 at the earliest.
In any case, it will be interesting to see how quickly things move today. So far developments have been slow, but as yesterday showed, things can spiral out of control very quickly.