Seahawks Richard Sherman says players must strike for better contracts
By Ben Renner
Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman told Jalen Rose on the red carpet of the ESPYs that NFL players must be willing to strike for better contracts.
Seahawks cornerback and vocal team leader Richard Sherman shot straight with the great Jalen Rose on the red carpet of the ESPYs (seriously the best story I could pull from the awards show, except for this).
Sherman said, in part:
"If we want to get anything done, players have to be willing to strike. That’s the thing that guys need to 100 percent realize. You’re going to have to miss games, you’re going to have to lose some money if you’re willing to make the point, because that’s how MLB and NBA got it done."
Sherman’s the Seahawks player representative for the National Football League Players’ Association and an expert on the growing disparity between NFL contracts and NBA contracts.
Power is constant imbalance. The NFL owners locked out the players six years ago when they didn’t like the contract rules. Since then, no one hears owners complaining about the huge contracts they have to hand their players.
For now, the owners have the advantage, as they did in 2011, when they waited the players union out until the Hall of Fame Game date went by. The deal they struck remains intact until 2021, and the Seahawks player representative says they all need to make sacrifices together.
Whether or not you think NFL players should make as much as NBA players, there’s no denying a strange compensation imbalance, especially considering the violence of the NFL. Playing 82 regular season basketball games followed by weeks and weeks of playoffs takes it toll, certainly, but NFL players get into a car accident every weekend, ice themselves, and then prepare their bodies for another series of violent collisions the next week that could literally mash their brains.
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Right now the owners have the power, but if the savvy Seahawks cornerback says a strike might be necessary, we should believe him. If anyone understands the state of labor relations in the NFL, it’s him, and his teachings make perfect sense.