Collective Bargaining Agreement News & Rumors

If the proposed CBA is ratified, the NFL will no longer suspend players for positive tests for marijuana or other substances of abuse. While this CBA includes a harsher PED policy, the new substance-abuse standards will focus more on treatment.

One positive drug test will not equal a penalty, instead only moving players to stage two of the substance-abuse program, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk notes. Fines will commence beginning with a second positive test, ranging from one game check (for two positive tests) to three (for four positive tests).

Players not in the drug program will only be tested for non-marijuana substances of abuse once between April 20 and August 9 each year, Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports tweets. This CBA would slash marijuana testing from this April-August window to a two-week period, with weed suspensions being virtually eliminated.

Players will only be suspended for not cooperating with the testing procedure or the clinical care that comes in stage two of the program, and even that will take some doing. Only for a fourth violation of this nature would bring a suspension of three games. For a player to be suspended for a season, it would take seven violations of the testing procedure or clinical care.

Season-long bans, or substance-abuse suspensions of any kind, will become quite difficult to earn. However, the players already suspended for substance abuse under the 2011 CBA may fall into a gray area. It is not yet clear if the likes of Josh Gordon, Randy Gregory or Martavis Bryant would have their statuses cleared up and be permitted to return to the league. Even Justin Blackmon and Daryl Washington — who saw PED bans lead to years away from the game — would fall into this category.

But the proposed CBA all but removing substance-abuse suspensions opens the door to past violators being given green lights to return to action. Having missed all of the 2017 and ’19 seasons because of substance abuse, Gregory wants to play in 2020.

A timeline for the CBA proposal’s passage emerged early Thursday morning. After lawyers for the NFL and NFLPA worked on finalizing language until 1:30am CT, the CBA proposal will officially be distributed to the full union body, Albert Breer of SI.com reports (on Twitter).

The ballots went out at 8am Thursday, and players will have almost exactly one week to vote on the measure. Votes are due at 10:59pm CT March 12 — just less than six days before the start of the 2020 league year. This CBA proposal is 456 pages long, per Tom Pelissero of NFL.com (on Twitter). However, players and agents received term sheets in advance.

If more than 50% of the players vote yes, the CBA passes. The NFLPA’s board approved the agreement, by a 17-14-1 vote, on Feb. 26. The union’s executive director, DeMaurice Smith, expects it to pass.

While the proposal includes numerous changes, the main component will be the season length. If the majority of players vote yes, a 17-game season will become reality. The league could shift to 17 games as soon as the 2021 season.

March 12 is also the final day teams can apply franchise or transition tags. As of now, teams are still allowed to use both tags. Should the 2011 CBA remain in place for the 2020 season, teams can use both tags. But should the CBA pass, teams that used both must rescind one of the tags. The NFL already moved the tag deadline back two days, but Pelissero adds (via Twitter) the league is not expected to move the date again. So teams with multiple marquee free agents will operate with a degree of uncertainty regarding how to proceed with tags.

The current CBA, which took effect in July 2011, runs through March 2021. This one would go through 2030. If players do not approve it, the likelihood of a 2021 work stoppage increases.

Under the yet-to-be-ratified CBA proposal, violators of the NFL’s policy on performance-enhancing drugs would face stricter punishment. Second offenses, in particular, would come with significant repercussions.

First-time positive tests for anabolic substances currently trigger a four-game ban. Under this CBA proposal, said offenses would cost a player six games, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk reports. The 2011 CBA shelved a violator 10 games for a second offense; the proposed new agreement would result in a 17-game suspension for a second positive test, Florio adds. Additionally, players who attempt to manipulate samples will be given eight-game suspensions.

Should this CBA be ratified, disparate penalties for testing positive for anabolic substances and stimulants would take effect. The NFL will reduce the latter ban from four games to two, per Florio, and from 10 games to five for a second offense.

Stimulants and anabolic substances currently trigger the same penalty, and with the NFL not disclosing the substances for which a player tested positive, the league’s PED issues are somewhat hazy. That would change if players ratify this CBA, though the agreement would still not disclose specific substances.

This will mark a further divide between the punishment for marijuana and PEDs. The CBA would nearly decriminalize the former in the NFL, while the latter will become a costlier mistake.

One issue that certainly will catch players’ attention in this CBA offer: stricter rules regarding training camp holdouts. Under this proposal, players under contract would incur severe punishments if they skip camp days.

A player would lose an accrued season toward free agency if he does not report to camp on time, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk reports. Under the 2011 CBA, players could not lose an accrued season unless they failed to report within 30 days of the regular-season opener.

Additionally, teams are no longer permitted to eliminate fines for players after they return to camp. This is a somewhat common practice for teams who reach an extension agreement with a holdout. The Rams did so with Aaron Donald in 2017 when he reported after Week 1 without a new deal. However, all fines are now mandatory. And they will cost “substantially” more than $40K per day, Florio adds.

This figures to be a major issue for players, but it also might present some class warfare. The bulk of the NFL’s workforce (and future members of it) will not be in position to wage a training camp holdout. The other sweeteners, such as significant minimum salary increases, may induce much of the lower-profile contingent of players to look past this team-friendly provision and approve the proposal.

However, holdouts ensue frequently and represent a key leverage avenue for dissatisfied players. Although some have not been deterred by the accrued-season component — as Donald and Ezekiel Elliott, to name two players, brushed this aside during their lengthy camp absences — this will limit other players’ options.

The NFLPA’s board voted 17-14 (with one abstention) to send the owners’ collective bargaining agreement proposal to their full membership, Dan Graziano of ESPN.com reports. While the voting of 1,900-plus players is not expected to be tallied until early March, the board moving it into the next phase is seemingly a good sign for it being approved.

Despite this progress pointing to the next CBA beginning for the 2020 season, one part of the 2011 CBA lingers. The parties are meeting Wednesday to discuss this offseason’s rules. Since there is nothing agreed to as of now, teams can still use their franchise and transition tags when the window for applying tags opens on Thursday, Graziano adds (on Twitter).

This could create the interesting scenario of teams being able to do so for part of the two-week window, but perhaps not all of it. So a flurry of tag action could transpire beginning Thursday. Teams have from Feb. 27-March 12 to designate franchise/transition players.

The outcome of the vote is not expected for around two weeks, NFL.com’s Judy Battista tweets, so teams are likely to still have time to discuss extensions with impending free agents. As for the possibility of a new CBA retroactively stripping teams of the right to use their franchise and transition tags, Battista adds the league does not have an answer yet (Twitter link).

That said, teams might be hesitant to use both tags. If ratified, the new CBA would take effect immediately, per Tom Pelissero of NFL.com, adding that the NFLPA would expect teams who use both tags to have to vacate one of those (Twitter link). This is an interesting subplot for teams with multiple marquee free agents.

On Tuesday, the NFL management council also agreed to adjust its pay scale for the 17th game on existing contracts. The owners agreed to eliminate the $250K cap on players’ 18th-week earnings, Graziano adds. Giving teams an extra bye week was once part of these negotiations, but the CBA will not include it. The players also hoped to move the owners to reduce the offseason schedule at Tuesday’s meeting; they did this back in 2011. But the owners did not agree to further shorten it, per Graziano. Padded training camp practices would, however, be substantially reduced, going from 28 to 16.

This proposal going into effect for 2020 will mean a 17-game season could start as soon as 2021. A 14-team playoff bracket, which has been in the discussion cycle for over five years, is also slated to begin this coming season. There are several other previously discussed components in this CBA proposal, but the players green-lighting it would mean 2020 could be the final year for the 16-game schedule (in place since 1978). The league used a 12-team playoff field from 1990-2019.