Solidarity a concern if lockout drags on
Giants wide receiver Steve Smith runs with the ball after a catch during NFL football training camp, Monday. (Aug. 2, 2010) Credit: AP
Thanks to decertification, the NFL Players Association no longer is a union in name. Some believe that if a lockout lasts into the fall, it could stop being a union in spirit as well.
Current Giant Steve Smith and former Giant Michael Strahan both suggested Thursday that if players have to miss paychecks, it will be difficult to keep their group together.
"Financially, we all know that the owners can outlast the players," Strahan said at an event for Vaseline at Chelsea Piers in Manhattan. "That could be one of the keys. The union is tight now, the players are in it together, but if it goes into the regular season and you start to miss some serious checks . . . I think that's one of those interesting times. You'll see just how strong the players are and how much they'll be able to hold together."
Said Smith, who was at the same event: "I think it'll be tough once guys are losing game checks, losing actual money. I think that's when it's going to get tough and we'll see what guys are going to do."
Smith said he believes the issue will be settled before that, and he thinks the 2010 rules will be in place for the 2011 season. That would make him a restricted free agent rather than an unrestricted one. "It wouldn't be good," he said.
Smith also is coming off microfracture surgery on his left knee. He walked gingerly at the event, although he said he's not experiencing any discomfort in the joint. He has begun running in a pool and expects to be running for real by the end of May. He could be back on the field for the start of the season, assuming there is one.
But even Smith can't be sure about the level to which he'll return. He saw Giants safety Kenny Phillips play in 2010, a year after microfracture surgery, and has spoken to him about the experience. Smith said it was clear that Phillips lost some of his explosiveness.
"There were a couple of plays where the old Kenny would have gotten an interception or a big hit," Smith said. "Hopefully, he'll come around. It's just a slow process and you have to know that."
So, too, is hammering out a CBA. And although the players may be unified now, the longer the lockout lasts, the more they're likely to start bickering and falling apart.
"I would be afraid of Twitter," Strahan said. "Guys say things on Twitter as if they're talking to their best friend . . . I don't think too many guys are worried about it now because it hasn't hit the regular season. Hopefully it doesn't. But if it does, then I think you'll hear a lot more chatter than we hear right now about getting this thing done."
Strahan: Bring Plax back
Strahan also said he hopes Plaxico Burress returns to the Giants when he is released from prison in June. "If he got out at 4 o'clock, he'd be a Giant by 4:05," Strahan said of what he'd do if he were running the team. He also said "the best thing to happen to Plaxico was Michael Vick" because it showed that "there is redemption."
