Das Forum » The NFL’s current system isn’t flawless.

The disrespect continues to be real this offseason" Latest NewsBen Roethlisberger one of only three Steelers included in latest CBS Top 100 listNew James Conner Jersey ,12commentsThe disrespect continues to be real this offseason EDTShare this storyShare this on FacebookShare this on TwitterShareAll sharing optionsShareAll sharing options for:Ben Roethlisberger one of only three Steelers included in latest CBS Top 100 listTwitterFacebookRedditPocketFlipboardEmailPhoto by Mike Ehrmann/Getty ImagesWith the NFL Network due to unveil their annual Top 100 list in the coming weeks, the copycats have been out in force as of late. And while CBS Sports has been among the worst offenders when it comes to rankings lists this offseason, their latest attempt at their own Top 100 list released might be one of their more questionable offerings of the year.Only three players from the Pittsburgh Steelers roster make it onto the list in 2019, with Ben Roethlisberger (44), Cameron Heyward (78) and JuJu Smith-Schuster (80) the only names considered good enough for inclusion according to a panel of CBS Sports writers. Inexplicably, the Dallas Cowboys are the leaders with nine selections, followed closely by the Los Angeles Chargers with seven and the Kansas City Chiefs, New Orleans Saints and Philadelphia Eagles all with six each.Roethlisberger was the ninth quarterback to be named on the list, somehow sitting behind Matt Ryan of the Atlanta Falcons at No.30 and Phillip RIvers at No.23. But in the eyes of author Jared Dubin, even this was too high for the Steelers’ signal caller.The write-up for Heyward seems to suggest a player who should have been much higher than No.78.Strangely, a total of 12 wide receivers were ranked ahead of Smith-Schuster, despite few of them touching his level of production in 2018. Not for the first time this offseason https://www.thesteelerslockerroom.com/authentic-terrell-edmunds-jersey , names like Davante Adams of the Green Bay Packers (60) and Amari Cooper from Dallas (79) are once again favored ahead of him. Perhaps the biggest slight toward Pittsburgh is the failure to include offensive lineman David DeCastro and Maurkice Pouncey. Instead, the list features guards Zack Martin of the Cowboys (32), Quenton Nelson of the Indianapolis Colts (38), Marshall Yanda of the Baltimore Ravens (48) and Shaq Mason of the New England Patriots (99). Jason Kelce of the Philadelphia Eagles (49) and Travis Frederick of Dallas (72) are the only two centers to warrant inclusion. If someone can give me a valid reason why DeCastro does not deserve to be part of a Top 100 list that includes the four guards named above, I would love to hear. DENVER (AP) — The National Football League’s annual free agency frenzy officially begins Wednesday, just 39 days after Tom Brady won another Super Bowl and 44 days before Commissioner Roger Goodell takes the stage in Nashville to announce the first overall pick in the 2019 NFL draft.Le’Veon Bell, Nick Foles, C.J. Mosley and Landon Collins are among this year’s headliners cashing in during the 27th year of unfettered free agency, a system that emerged after a Minneapolis federal court ruled in 1992 that the Plan B free agency system of protecting 37 players on a team violated antitrust laws.A lawyer for the league, Frank Rothman, warned in closing arguments that a verdict for the players could mean “the destruction of the National Football League that we know today.”Modern free agency indeed laid waste to the old way of doing business.Yet, what rose in its place has been a godsend to the NFL Womens Terrell Edmunds Jersey , which is celebrating its 100th season this year. The NFL wouldn’t be the gigantic force it is in society and sports today without free agency empowering players with freedom and endowing long-suffering franchises and their fans with hope.“I think free agency’s been great for the game for a lot of reasons,” said Joe Horrigan, executive director of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. “Look at us, we have a whole season now for the fan. It’s keeping the NFL front of mind 24/7, seven days a week, 365 days a year.”Without free agency, the Green Bay Packers wouldn’t have returned to glory in the 1990s; the second chapter of Peyton Manning’s magnificent career might have gone unwritten; the New Orleans Saints wouldn’t have been able to parade the Lombardi Trophy down Bourbon Street; and Deion Sanders might not have earned two nicknames and two Super Bowl rings, one in San Francisco and another in Dallas.Federal judge David Doty threatened to implement his own plan if team owners and the players’ union couldn’t agree on a free agency system following the league’s loss in court in 1992.What finally won over the hardliner owners was the inclusion of a franchise tag and the coupling of a salary cap to control costs. The first salary cap was $34.6 million in 1994. Now, it’s $188.2 million.The most significant free agent signing in NFL history occurred when the new system went into effect in the 1993 offseason: Reggie White chose Green Bay in a shocker that shifted the balance of power in the NFL and foretold free agency’s boom and boon.“What was beautiful about that was everybody was fearful of free agency, fearful that all the best teams would stockpile all the greatest players and they’d all go to one place,” Horrigan said. “Well, the salary cap that came with free agency prevented that Womens James Conner Jersey , No. 1. But then Reggie to Green Bay kind of suggested that the system was good for all.”White teamed with Brett Favre to lead the Packers’ resurgence that ended a 30-year title drought.Manning’s arrival in Denver two decades later also transformed a franchise that was far removed from its glory days.After missing the 2011 season with a neck injury, Manning was cut loose by the Colts, who were turning to Andrew Luck. The Broncos won the Manning sweepstakes, which made it easier for general manager John Elway to lure other free agents such as DeMarcus Ware, Emmanuel Sanders, Aqib Talib and T.J. Ward, the emotional backbone of the team that won Super Bowl 50 in Manning’s farewell.Somebody asked Elway at the introductory news conference what he would have done had Manning turned him down.“Plan B?” replied Elway. “We don’t have a Plan B. We’re going with Plan A.”Sort of like the NFL had to do when the players decertified their union three decades ago and took the league to court in the face of long-standing fierce opposition to free agency.“The pushback was huge, going back to 1969 and ’70 with owners and labor-player management,” former commissioner Paul Tagliabue said.The issue led to the 1987 players strike and owners’ infamous use of replacement players.“Dan Rooney (the late chairman of the Pittsburgh Steelers) talked about some form of free agency then, but the majority of the owners’ committee would have no part of free agency,” Tagliabue said. “Then we came up with Plan B.”Owners unilaterally imposed Plan B free agency in 1989 with the absence of a labor agreement, giving teams the right to protect 37 players on their 47-man rosters from becoming free agents.“They weren’t trying to satisfy the players association T. J. Watt Jersey White , they were trying to satisfy the courts,” Horrigan said. “They thought they could get limited free agency and (union chief) Gene Upshaw kind of chuckled at how transparent that was: ‘That’s not free agency; that’s making available your castoffs.’“And the judge also saw through it,” Horrigan said.While some players switched teams, all the really good players were still stuck.“We knew then it did not make any sense,” players agent Donald Yee said. “But to be fair, the owners were simply grasping at anything to present to the courts that seemed reasonable. I represented a reserve player who had never played, and all of a sudden, he was exposed in Plan B and he had numerous offers from other teams. His own veteran teammates were jealous and upset. It was a laughable situation.” The franchise tag irks the game’s superstars, and a recent AP study found that teams often turn to younger, cheaper players rather than put savings from the rookie salary pools into signing proven veterans.“When the CBA came into effect in 1993, there was more of a middle class within the roster, and it was difficult for any young player to play Terrell Edmunds Jersey White , or much less make the active roster,” Yee said. “On the vast majority of rosters now, there is no middle class, and this certainly affects the product quality on the field. If a highly paid star is sidelined, often an inexperienced younger player has to step in.”Both sides will try to tweak free agency again in the next round of labor negotiations.“Ultimately, fan response carries the day,” Yee said. “If the fans don’t like the product and reject it, that will affect owners and the union, and they’ll have to work together to come up with a fix. Every ‘fix’ is a balance of competing interests, and there will be merit to a number of potential innovations.”