The NFLPA Wants Players to Skip All Optional Minicamps. And So Far in New England, It's Belichick 1, Union 0

Eric Canha. Shutterstock Images.

All things considered, it's been a period of remarkable labor peace between the NFL and the NFL Players Association. Even through the chaos of 2020, when everyone on both sides was scrambling to salvage a season amid conflicting recommendations from health officials, unsettled science (remember when the virus was supposed to stay on surfaces for three days?), different guidelines in place in every state, no "bubbles" like other sports resorted to, travel restrictions and games rescheduled at the last minute due to positive tests, management and labor stuck with it and pulled off the impossible: A full season. And a pretty damned good one at that. 

But now all that feeling of goodwill and general mood of acoustic guitars, passing a joint around the firepit vibing is meeting it's first challenge of 2021, with Organized Team Activities scheduled to start around the league next week. The union is urging players to stay home, on the theory that a lot of industries will be facing as things get back to normal. The argument being, "If we could get our work done just fine virtually in 2020, and be just as productive from home as we were commuting into the office, why can't we do it that way forever?" 

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So far, the Denver Broncos are the only team that has put on a unified front, saying they'll all be keeping the "Optional" in "Team Activities." Basically giving management the football version of "This OTA could've been an email." The teams, on the other hand, might point out that, while the Broncos think they got all their work in last spring, they went 5-11. Whereas the team with a new quarterback that got in trouble for breaking quaratine to walk into a stranger's house mistaking it for his offensive coordinator's:

… and conducting player's only workouts, won the goddamned Super Bowl. 

Teams can't legally force anyone to show up to OTAs. Or even suggest they should. Or even drop subtle, passive/aggressive hints, like your wife asking if the stuff in the dishwasher is clean, when what she's really saying is she wants to know why you didn't empty it while she was running around all day and you've been on your ass watching "World War II in Color." But still, management is united in wanting full attendance, while the players - and stop me if you've heard this before - are divided. 

Pro Football Talk - [T]here’s a good chance the boycott will fail. Incoming draft picks and undrafted rookies, none of whom are currently members of the union, will relish the opportunity to develop without veterans there to consume key reps. And if young players show that they can be trusted, they will have a better chance to supplant older and more expensive veterans on the 53-man roster — especially if those veterans choose not to participate in offseason workouts.

Beyond the players with six-figure payments tied to showing up for the vast majority of the voluntary workouts, players with six- and seven-figure base salaries will want to protect their turf by showing up, getting in shape, receiving practice reps, and more importantly keeping rookies and other unproven players from earning first-team opportunities.

Which brings me, as every conversation on any topic inevitably does, to the Patriots. And this first report about what his players plan to do:

That would be this Brandon King:

ANGELA WEISS. Getty Images.

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That was the last time he played in a meaningful game. Core-4 special team stud. Safety and linebacker depth guy. Two time Super Bowl champion. Someone who got carted off the field in preseason of 2019 and was put on PUP last year. A leader who is dying to get back on the field and reboot his career. In the two years he's been away from the game, he's developed new and better fucks not to give about what the union he pays dues to think he should or should not be doing. You have to respect a guy like that. 

And here's the thing. No one should hold it against the players who take their optional team activities literally. They won that fair and square at the bargaining table. But at the same time you'd be lying if you said you don't want as much participation on your team as you can possibly get. I hope that Brandon King's attitude is reflected from one end of the locker room to the other. This team has unfinished business, a lot of new faces, and the stink of a 7-9 season on them that can only be washed off with sweat on the practice field and the weight room. 

I was forced to belong to a union when I worked for the state government. And as much as I respect the way organized labor has made huge, historic advances for the working person (for instance, safety harnesses for guys walking around on I-beams 100 stories up, which didn't used to be required), at the same time, there's something liberating about belonging to a union so weak they can't do anything to you if you ignore their rules and do what's best for you. That's what Brandon King is doing here. God I hope he's just one of 90 or so Patriots who do the same. So the assault on Banner 7 can begin right away. I can't wait to see how this plays out.