Labor Cloud Hovers Over NFL's Combine

Filed under: NFL Draft, NFL Analysis, NFL Labor Negotiations

INDIANAPOLIS -- They can all pretend it's business as usual, but those who do are in trouble. Coaches, GMs and draft prospects gathering here for the annual NFL Scouting Combine have largely been shrugging off the potential impact of the league's labor unrest on their individual situations at their own peril. The likelihood remains strong that the NFL is a week away from a lockout, and unless these brave faces are disguising the real plans of teams and players, a lot of people aren't going to know what to do if that happens.

To that end, there was this meeting about which you likely heard. It's an annual meeting, held each February at this very same Westin hotel, in which the league assembles all coaches and GMs for a briefing on league business. It does not, usually, take place with dozens of members of the NFL media assembled just outside the doors. But such in the state of the current NFL. A meeting in which the labor situation is discussed is going to get some attention -- even if it turns out to be real short on details.

"The message, basically, was that everybody's still hoping a deal will get done, but in case it doesn't, these are some of the scenarios that could play out," Jaguars coach Jack Del Rio said after leaving the one-hour meeting Thursday night. "So, more of an information session, really."

 

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