{"id":408294,"date":"2011-04-29T16:51:30","date_gmt":"2011-04-29T16:51:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/04\/29\/nfl-players-returning-to-work-ap\/"},"modified":"2011-04-29T16:51:30","modified_gmt":"2011-04-29T16:51:30","slug":"nfl-players-returning-to-work-ap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/29\/nfl-players-returning-to-work-ap\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL players returning to work (AP)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. (AP)\u2014Welcome back, players.<\/p>\n

The NFL cleared the way for some basic football operations to begin at 8 a.m. EDT Friday, four days after a federal judge declared the lockout illegal and nearly seven weeks after it began.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom the players\u2019 standpoint I think everybody is pleased we\u2019re not locked out anymore, especially the rookies,\u201d Patriots quarterback Tom Brady<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> said on CNBC in his first public comments about the dispute since he became a named plaintiff in the antitrust lawsuit filed against the owners.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell leaves the federal courthouse in Minneapolis last week.
(AP)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

In a conference call with New York Jets<\/a> season-ticket holders, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said the league will hold a conference call later Friday morning to address player transaction rules. The guidelines for free agency, trades and other roster moves have been uncertain in the absence of a collective bargaining agreement. That expired March 11, the same day the players\u2019 union was disbanded to clear the way for a court fight.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019re doing right now is having to adjust, obviously, to court decisions,\u201d Goodell said. \u201cWe are opening our gates this morning to the facilities. \u2026 The most important things for us is to obviously respect the decisions of the court, and secondly, make sure we proceed in an orderly fashion and inform all 32 of our clubs, to make sure we\u2019re doing it in a responsible fashion.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Place your vote on Grudge Judge<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Players all over the league started reporting to team facilities in the morning, from Tony Romo<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> in Dallas to Chad Greenway<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> in Minnesota and DeAngelo Hall<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> with the Redskins.<\/p>\n

About a dozen Carolina Panthers<\/a> players were spotted entering Bank of America Stadium, where a voluntary meeting was planned and players were expected to receive their playbooks from new coach Ron Rivera.<\/p>\n

One of the first to arrive was quarterback Jimmy Clausen<\/a>(notes)<\/a>,<\/span> whose job is in jeopardy after Carolina drafted Auburn\u2019s Cam Newton<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> with the No. 1 overall pick on Thursday night. Fellow QBs Tony Pike<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> and Matt Moore<\/a>(notes)<\/a>,<\/span> who is unsigned and recovering from a shoulder injury, also arrived.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know what\u2019s going to happen when I walk in the door,\u201d Moore said, \u201cbut I\u2019m happy to be here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Center Ryan Kalil<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> said the lockout has been good in some ways because he\u2019s been able to rest more and spend more time with his family. But Kalil was eager to reunite with his teammates.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think anyone thought it was going to get to this point and it did. It got uncomfortable I think for everybody,\u201d Kalil said. \u201cIt\u2019s nice there\u2019s a little light at the end of the tunnel, and we get to come back and get out of that funk. We\u2019ll see what happens moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the first time all offseason, players have been cleared to talk with coaches, work out at team headquarters and get playbooks. All were turned away from team facilities since U.S. District Judge Susan Richard Nelson\u2019s decision Monday to lift the owner-imposed lockout.<\/p>\n

The Tennessee Titans<\/a>\u2019 main gate, which had been chained, was open Friday morning. Guard Jake Scott<\/a>(notes)<\/a>,<\/span> the team\u2019s player representative, was among three players who arrived. Scott was turned away on Tuesday and Thursday, when he was met at the locked gate by two armed security guards.<\/p>\n

The owners and players have been embroiled in a bitter battle over how the NFL\u2019s $9 billion pie is sliced, a fight that has been taken to the courts.<\/p>\n

The rhetoric was venomous at times, but Brady said that has not compromised the close relationship he has with Patriots owner Robert Kraft.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think our relationship is much deeper than that,\u201d Brady said. \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s Tom Brady suing Robert Kraft. \u2026 It\u2019s certainly not personal. He was at my wedding. We have a great relationship. We\u2019ve always had (one). And I\u2019m sure that\u2019s going to continue.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the legal fight is far from over despite the halting steps back toward football. The league has asked the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis to restore the lockout as soon as possible, hoping for a friendlier venue than the federal courts in Minnesota.<\/p>\n

The league wants the appellate court to put Nelson\u2019s decision on hold so it can argue that it should be overturned altogether. The players were told to respond to the league\u2019s motion for a stay by midday Friday, and the NFL\u2019s reply to that is due on Monday morning.<\/p>\n

Goodell, who was roundly booed by passionate and impatient fans at Radio City Music Hall on Thursday, said he feared the fight could last for a while.<\/p>\n

Friday morning, he said he gets why fans booed him: \u201cIt\u2019s the fans\u2019 frustration, and I understand that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019d be great to have everybody back in the building, but the real thing is we\u2019ve got to get back to the negotiating table and get a CBA,\u201d Jaguars owner Wayne Weaver said.<\/p>\n

At least for now, football activities can take place.<\/p>\n

Mandatory minicamps and voluntary offseason practices can begin under rules of the old CBA. Team-supervised workouts will count toward bonuses in player contracts, and players also can work out on their own at team facilities if they have health insurance in place.<\/p>\n

The league also will arrange for substance abuse and drug programs to start back up, and players can participate in team-sponsored community and charity functions.<\/p>\n

At least 11 Redskins showed up at the practice facility at Redskins Park in Ashburn, Va., including Hall, Kedric Golston<\/a>(notes)<\/a>,<\/span> Graham Gano<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> and Lorenzo Alexander<\/a>(notes)<\/a>,<\/span> who was turned away from the workout room the previous three days.<\/p>\n

Players also started trickling in with the Giants, Chiefs, Bears, Jets, Seahawks and Dolphins, including receiver Brandon Marshall<\/a>(notes)<\/a>,<\/span> who recently was hospitalized following a domestic dispute. Marshall\u2019s wife, Michi Nogami-Marshall, was charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon after authorities said she stabbed him with a kitchen knife.<\/p>\n

Giants receiver Devin Thomas<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> flew in from Michigan on Thursday night so that he could be sure to get in a workout and talk to his coaches. His only problem? The tubs weren\u2019t filled up.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was geeked; I had to get back,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Detroit Lions<\/a> already have scheduled organized team activities for Wednesday, and the Bears have set a rookie camp for next weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a little uncertainty because we know we can get started and they can pull the plug on us, so that\u2019s the part that is upsetting,\u201d Thomas said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to do what we have to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

The longer the lockout is lifted, the better for a rookie class that enters the league with unprecedented uncertainty surrounding their arrival. Getting as much work in as possible, especially for the four quarterbacks taken in the first 12 picks, is paramount as they make the adjustment from college to the NFL.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, it\u2019s going to be huge and for me as a rookie quarterback,\u201d said Florida State\u2019s Christian Ponder<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> after being drafted 12th by the Minnesota Vikings<\/a> on Thursday. \u201cIt\u2019s all about putting in my time and getting myself prepared for whatever role I\u2019m going to have this coming season.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I know I\u2019m going up there (Friday) and I already asked coach if I was going to have a playbook. And he said yeah, there will be one ready for me and we\u2019re going to talk some ball once I get up there so I\u2019m excited about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

AP Football Writers Arnie Stapleton and Barry Wilner and AP Sports Writers Dennis Waszak, Tom Canavan, Stephen Hawkins, Mike Cranston, R.B. Fallstrom, Larry Lage, Mark Long, Tom Withers and Joseph White contributed to this report.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

View post:
\nNFL players returning to work (AP)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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