{"id":411687,"date":"2011-05-01T02:33:27","date_gmt":"2011-05-01T02:33:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/05\/01\/lockout-draft-highlight-nfls-wild-week-ap\/"},"modified":"2011-05-01T02:33:27","modified_gmt":"2011-05-01T02:33:27","slug":"lockout-draft-highlight-nfls-wild-week-ap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/01\/lockout-draft-highlight-nfls-wild-week-ap\/","title":{"rendered":"Lockout, draft highlight NFL’s wild week (AP)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

NEW YORK (AP)\u2014From lockout to injunction to limbo and back to lockout\u2014 with a draft thrown in. Not even Super Bowl week gets that wild.<\/p>\n

Backed by an appeals court ruling, owners shut their doors once more, with players across the league trying to figure out where they stand\u2014again.<\/p>\n

That includes veterans with contracts and free agents. It includes rookies drafted in the first round who took advantage of a small window Friday to meet with coaching staffs and get playbooks.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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

And it includes players being drafted Saturday in the fourth through seventh rounds, plus any collegians not selected at all. They can have no such communication with their teams.<\/p>\n

NFL Players Association President Kevin Mawae<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> calls the last few days \u201cchaotic.\u201d And with a court hearing scheduled for Monday in St. Louis, the labor dispute could take a few more turns.<\/p>\n

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

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

\u201cThis is hurting everybody,\u201d Mawae said. \u201cThe guys getting drafted who can\u2019t be part of their teams, the older guys who should be allowed to work out and get ready for playing football.\u201d<\/p>\n

They were able to do so Friday until an appeals court issued a temporary stay of the injunction that blocked the lockout. The league ordered the 32 teams late Friday night to shut down all business except the draft.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t build that stadium not to have football in it,\u201d Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said. \u201cIf I wanted to spend my life in courtrooms and controversy over contracts and doing all that thing \u2026 I\u2019d be doing something else.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ruling came after 17 Broncos veterans showed up at work Friday. Quarterback Tim Tebow<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> wasn\u2019t among them. The second-year pro who started the final month last season didn\u2019t get into Denver in time to join his teammates.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I landed, the lockout was back on,\u201d Tebow said.<\/p>\n

That also meant the chain was back on the main gate at the Tennessee Titans<\/a>\u2019 facility, a day after the entrance was thrown wide open for the 15 to 20 players who came by. Reporters arriving Saturday to cover the final day of the NFL draft had to enter through a side gate and drive through the players\u2019 lot.<\/p>\n

The empty players\u2019 lot.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you get in court, basically where we are in the process, then you now have somebody else making the decisions for you in many cases,\u201d Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said. \u201cI think that in general, the things that we want to do are good and are good in the long-term interest of the players, as well as the fans, as well as NFL football.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was little feeling of goodwill among the fans who showered Commissioner Roger Goodell with a steady stream of boos during the draft at Radio City Music Hall. They chanted \u201cWe want football\u201d even before proceedings began Thursday night, to which Goodell responded, \u201cSo do I.\u201d<\/p>\n

One day later, the lockout was back on. Puzzlement had replaced optimism.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy advice hasn\u2019t changed,\u201d said Browns linebacker Scott Fujita<\/a>(notes)<\/a>,<\/span> an NFLPA player representative. \u201cWhen guys are deciding whether they want to return to Cleveland right away \u2026 they just have to understand the need to be flexible.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said some of the younger players, mostly those who may have spent only a few weeks on the practice squad, are having difficulty paying for medical coverage. Also, he added, because of the uncertainty teams can\u2019t expect such players to book expensive, last-minute flights.<\/p>\n

\u201cI imagine some players will want to wait for more clarity,\u201d he said. \u201cBecause it would be a shame for them to rush back, only to find out they\u2019ll be locked out for an extended period and essentially be in limbo again.\u201d<\/p>\n

So what\u2019s next?<\/p>\n

Monday becomes a critical day. U.S. District Judge Susan Richard Nelson\u2019s order lifting the 45-day lockout last Monday was temporarily stayed by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis on Friday. The lockout returned a few hours later as the third round of the draft concluded.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are in uncharted but fascinating legal territory,\u201d said agent\/attorney Ralph Cindrich. \u201cThe owners\u2019 lockout is temporary now; it can become permanent after the same three judges do a detailed review. If the lockout is reinstated, it puts the players down on points big.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Cindrich predicts the NFL will not get Nelson\u2019s injunction permanently blocked. If he is correct, teams will be opening for business again soon.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think everybody is frustrated\u2014across the board,\u201d Lions linebackers coach Matt Burke said.<\/p>\n

AP Pro Football Writer Arnie Stapleton in Denver, and Sports Writers Teresa M. Walker in Nashville, Tenn.; Tom Withers in Cleveland; Steven Wine in Miami; Stephen Hawkins in Dallas; Larry Lage in Detroit; Richard Rosenblatt and Rick Freeman in New York contributed to this story.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Read More:
\nLockout, draft highlight NFL’s wild week (AP)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK (AP)\u2014From lockout to injunction to limbo and back to lockout\u2014 with a draft thrown in. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":411688,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-411687","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-local-news"},"yoast_head":"\nLockout, draft highlight NFL's wild week (AP) - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/01\/lockout-draft-highlight-nfls-wild-week-ap\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Lockout, draft highlight NFL's wild week (AP) - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"NEW YORK (AP)\u2014From lockout to injunction to limbo and back to lockout\u2014 with a draft thrown in.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/01\/lockout-draft-highlight-nfls-wild-week-ap\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/01\/lockout-draft-highlight-nfls-wild-week-ap\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Lockout, draft highlight NFL’s wild week (AP)\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-05-01T02:33:27+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/01\/lockout-draft-highlight-nfls-wild-week-ap\/\"},\"wordCount\":841,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/01\/lockout-draft-highlight-nfls-wild-week-ap\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"articleSection\":[\"Local News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/01\/lockout-draft-highlight-nfls-wild-week-ap\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/01\/lockout-draft-highlight-nfls-wild-week-ap\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/01\/lockout-draft-highlight-nfls-wild-week-ap\/\",\"name\":\"Lockout, draft highlight NFL's wild week (AP) - Ghanamma.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/01\/lockout-draft-highlight-nfls-wild-week-ap\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/01\/lockout-draft-highlight-nfls-wild-week-ap\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-05-01T02:33:27+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/01\/lockout-draft-highlight-nfls-wild-week-ap\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/01\/lockout-draft-highlight-nfls-wild-week-ap\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"\",\"contentUrl\":\"\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/\",\"name\":\"Ghanamma.com\",\"description\":\"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Lockout, draft highlight NFL's wild week (AP) - Ghanamma.com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/01\/lockout-draft-highlight-nfls-wild-week-ap\/","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Lockout, draft highlight NFL's wild week (AP) - Ghanamma.com","twitter_description":"NEW YORK (AP)\u2014From lockout to injunction to limbo and back to lockout\u2014 with a draft thrown in.","twitter_creator":"@ghanamma","twitter_site":"@ghanamma","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/01\/lockout-draft-highlight-nfls-wild-week-ap\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/01\/lockout-draft-highlight-nfls-wild-week-ap\/"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"Lockout, draft highlight NFL’s wild week (AP)","datePublished":"2011-05-01T02:33:27+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/01\/lockout-draft-highlight-nfls-wild-week-ap\/"},"wordCount":841,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/01\/lockout-draft-highlight-nfls-wild-week-ap\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"","articleSection":["Local News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/01\/lockout-draft-highlight-nfls-wild-week-ap\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/01\/lockout-draft-highlight-nfls-wild-week-ap\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/01\/lockout-draft-highlight-nfls-wild-week-ap\/","name":"Lockout, draft highlight NFL's wild week (AP) - Ghanamma.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/01\/lockout-draft-highlight-nfls-wild-week-ap\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/01\/lockout-draft-highlight-nfls-wild-week-ap\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"","datePublished":"2011-05-01T02:33:27+00:00","author":{"@id":""},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/01\/lockout-draft-highlight-nfls-wild-week-ap\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/01\/lockout-draft-highlight-nfls-wild-week-ap\/#primaryimage","url":"","contentUrl":""},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/","name":"Ghanamma.com","description":"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=411687"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411687\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=411687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=411687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=411687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}