Believe me, I know the feeling.

I am sure you have noticed we have cooled on our lockout coverage around here. The reason for that is because we’ve determined that the blow by blow coverage that you are seeing elsewhere, the daily lockout articles being pumped out by guys like Mike Silver and the folks at Pro Football Talk, are mostly useless.

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The atmosphere at the NFL Draft is always charged with excitement but as I sat in Radio City Music Hall awaiting the start of the 2011 edition, I noticed that something seemed a bit off. There was a different energy in the air. There was a restlessness among those in the crowd. The usual excited chatter seemed to have been replaced by a slight murmur of aggression. I wasn’t the only one who noticed it. A fellow media member turned and told me that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell had been heckled by an angry fan earlier in the day at an “NFL Play 60” event held in New York City’s Central Park.

“They are going to boo him right out of the building,” he said.

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In the wake of the failure of the players and the NFL to come to a labor agreement, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has written a letter to the fans.

Dear NFL Fan,

When I wrote to you last on behalf of the NFL, we promised you that we would work tirelessly to find a collectively bargained solution to our differences with the players’ union. Subsequent to that letter to you, we agreed that the fastest way to a fair agreement was for everyone to work together through a mediation process. For the last three weeks I have personally attended every session of mediation, which is a process our clubs sincerely believe in.

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The NFL reportedly gave the players one last offer this morning and that offer is being looked over. The players were supposed to get an update from union rep DeMaurice Smith at 2. Smith reportedly had a conference call but we do not know yet what is going on.

Basically we could be looking at:

1. Decertification/Lockout (decertification must happen by 5PM)
2. Extension of talks
3. A deal

Keep it here. We coul dfind something out any time.

Update: Tweet from Chris Mortenson of ESPN:(2:39 EST)

mortreport Chris Mortensen
DeMaurice Smith proceeded with his update @ 2 w players via conferencing. Owners’ team hopeful talks continue after their proposal today.

Yesterday Jason Cole of Yahoo! Sports reported that the NFL and the NFLPA had agreed on the basic terms of a new rookie wage scale. Cole sited two unnamed sources to backup his report.

Good news, right? Not so fast.

Later in the day, a couple more reports popped up claiming that no deal had been reached. The guys at Pro Football Talk reached out to Cole via email and they report that Cole is standing by his claim.

Whether or not a deal for a rookie wage scale has been agreed upon at this point is kind of irrelevant. A deal on a wage scale will be reached because it will benefit both the owners and the players in the long run. Teams won’t be stuck paying draft busts for years after it becomes apparent that they are flops and for the players, more money will go to proven veterans.

On another front, we got word from NFLPA rep DeMaurice Smith that the union will be saying no to an 18-game schedule. Smith spoke yesterday from the union’s Washington offices in an event jointly scheduled with 106.7 the Fan.

“First of all, the league has never presented a formal proposal for 18 games,” Smith said.  “But more importantly, it’s something that our players don’t want.  Eighteen games is not in the best interest of our players’ safety, so we’re not doing it.”

Pretty cut and dry, eh?

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It looks like football will continue at least for another week. For the first time in a long time there seems to be optimism surrounding the negotiations. They may actually get this thing done!

Today is the deadline for NFL teams to submit tender offers for players who will could be restricted free agents should a labor deal get done sometime in the next 150 years and Adam Teicher of the Kansas City Star is reporting that the Chiefs have tendered DE Wallace Gilberry at a 2nd round level.

In simple terms, the Chiefs control Gilberry’s rights as a restricted free agent. The tender is the Chiefs placing a value on Gilberry. Wallace is free to talk to other teams interested in acquiring him, however since the Chiefs hold his rights, an interested team would have to give up a 2nd round pick to the Chiefs if they wanted to sign Gilberry. The Chiefs would also have the opportunity to match any offer Gilberry might receive.

This is a smart move by the Chiefs. Gilberry is their only other consistent pass rushing threat outside of Tamba Hali. He was second on the team in 2010 with 7 sacks.

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The guys over at Pro Football Talk have an excellent breakdown of Judge David Doty’s recent ruling that will have a big impact on the NFL labor negotiations. Check it out.

From PFT:

A league source tells PFT that the league and union have agreed to seven straight days of negotiations. This development was disclosed in a conference call with agents. The seven straight days will kick off Friday.

From profootballtalk.nbcsports.com (share this quote)

Another good sign! Chances are we won’t hear much about these negotiations as the mediator stated earlier that he did not plan to release details about the talks. Inevitably, however, some bits of news will leak out.

What do you think Addicts? Will something get done in time?

The two sides will meet with the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service for the first time tomorrow in Washington DC. George H. Cohen, the directer of the FMCS, released a statement confirming the move today. Part of the statement read:

“Due to the extreme sensitivity of these negotiations and consistent with the FMCS’s long-standing practice, the Agency will refrain from any public comment concerning the future schedule and/or the status of those negotiations until further notice.”

More after the jump.

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Walking the walk of any smart politician, Kansas City Mayor Mark Funkhouser is taking the position of most of his constituents in speaking out against an NFL lockout.

Funkhouser took things a step further last week, according to the Kansas City Star, in that he sent a letter to Chiefs chairman Clark Hunt asking him to speak out against a lockout.

Funkhousers logic is that since the players pledged not to strike that the owners should pledge not to lock them out. Funkhouser believes this would help alleviate some of the stress of the negotiations and help move both sides toward striking a deal.

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What do you guys think of this logo?

The NFL owners and players are totally ruining my offseason.

I run a Kansas City Chiefs website here and this whole labor thing is really a fly in my football ointment. You see, we have a pretty solid structure of how we do things around here in the offseason. We’ve spent the last year turning AA into a well oiled machine. We post over 5 times a day a day on average. We have at least 2 opinion articles on the Chiefs M-F which is probably the most of any Chiefs site on the internet. Even when the good guys in red aren’t on the field, we’re here at Arrowhead Addict talking KC football.

Usually once the season ends, we immediately switch our focus to free agency. The draft is always there in the background but February and March early March are all about talking about what holes the Chiefs can fill in free agency. Once the bulk of free agency slows down, we turn our attention to the draft and then mini camps and OTA’s. We slog on through the summer months analyzing the schedule and so forth and then training camp starts up.

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Now that the 2010 NFL Season has concluded, it is time to focus on the offseason.  Unfortunately, this offseason will be marred by concern over NFL Labor negotiations.  However, since I can’t go up to each negotiator, slap their face, and tell them to get the deal done; I’ll have to find something else to keep myself busy.  Since the draft is a sure thing with or without a new CBA, I figured I would focus on that.

Before reading this I need you to understand three things.  The first is that I am doing this based on the idea of no free agency.  Second, I am pretending that I’m sitting in the General Manager’s seat.  I am not pretending that I am Scott Pioli.  However, it should be known that he and I share our like for smart, high character guys.  Third is that these choices will change many times before the actual draft occurs.  One of the biggest events leading up to the Draft, the NFL Combine, has not yet occurred and so these players will move up and down the board depending on their performance there.  With that being said, here is my Chiefs’ mock draft.
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If you are confused about the labor situation then you absolutely must read this article by Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. Clark Hunt is even mentioned.

More after the jump.

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