COMMENTARY
NFL players need to flex union muscle
Donte Whitner, a veteran, said it was “wrong.” Eric Wood, a rookie first-round pick, termed it “unfortunate.” Ashlee Palmer, an undrafted rookie free agent, said he can understand the players’ predicament.
But all three Bills said they would have done the same thing as those Cleveland rookies last weekend. They would have hopped on the bus, Gus, and taken a 10-hour ride—10 hours back, too—to appear at a high school football camp in Eric Mangini’s hometown of Hartford, Conn.
What choice did they have? Mangini is the Browns’ head coach. He has the rookies’ fates in his hands. So when Mangini asked them to make a “voluntary” bus trip to his alma mater, how could they refuse? So what if the head coach went by airplane? What rookie would have the nerve to say no?
“I don’t think it was right,” Whitner said. “Sometimes, people take advantage of your fear of not making the team. So you’re reluctant to say ‘no’ to people in authority, even if you know you’re right and they’re wrong.”
Browns management said there wasn’t a single complaint about going. Remember, it was voluntary. Sure, in the same way it’s voluntary when powerless municipal workers are urged to kick in a little campaign contribution for the party in charge.
All 19 Browns rookies made the trip. You think it’s because they’re so devoted to the kids in Hartford? They don’t have contracts or guaranteed jobs.
Numerous unnamed sources complained to the Cleveland newspaper. A player agent, perhaps, or one of the Browns veterans, who were said to be “baffled” by Mangini’s ploy.
One source in the Plain Dealer called the bus trip “a sophisticated form of hazing.” The Browns called it a chance to “build team unity and help serve the community.” Maybe it helped bond the rookies, who were all placed in the same impossible situation.
“That’s true enough,” said Palmer, who played at Mississippi and was the highest-rated linebacker not drafted. “Right now, I really don’t have a spot at any job. Anything the coach says to do, I’d have to do.”
But two 10-hour bus rides in two days, after a week of minicamp, with more OTAs looming Monday?
“There’s only so much fun you can have on a 10-hour bus ride,” said Wood, who was drafted 28th overall in April. “It seems to be a tough situation for those rookies. But from what I heard, Coach Mangini rode back with them. As I always say, nothing is ever as good or as bad as it seems.”
This one looks bad, though. Mangini took advantage of his rookies, who are unsigned and therefore not members of the union. The NFL players are soft when it comes to voluntary workouts. With few exceptions, they ignore their negotiated rights and show up, anyway.
“It’s so competitive nowadays,” Whitner said. “The margin of error is so small between 12-4 and being 0-16 like the Lions were. Every team wants to get as big an edge as they can. So we need everybody here at the OTAs. So I can see both sides of it.”
Sometimes, I wonder. The Bills have all these offseason activities. The coaches work themselves to exhaustion. Then the regular season arrives and they can’t get the plays in on time. When does all the team bonding pay off?
Whitner said Mangini broke an unwritten law. He shouldn’t get away with it. At some point, the union needs to reestablish that it is, in fact, a union. I’d have five players from every team stay away from voluntary workouts, on a rotating basis. Send a message:We won’t be militant on voluntary workouts, but we won’t be bullied, either.
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