Associated Press
NEW YORK ó From lockout to injunction to limbo and back to lockout ó with a draft thrown in. Not even Super Bowl week gets that wild.
Backed by an appeals court ruling, owners shut their doors once more, with players across the league trying to figure out where they stand ó again.
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.
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.
NFL Players Association President Kevin Mawae calls the last few days “chaotic.” And with a court hearing scheduled for Monday in St. Louis, the labor dispute could take a few more turns.
“This is hurting everybody,” Mawae said. “The guys getting drafted who can’t be part of their teams, the older guys who should be allowed to work out and get ready for playing football.”
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.
“I didn’t build that stadium not to have football in it,” Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said. “If I wanted to spend my life in courtrooms and controversy over contracts and doing all that thing … I’d be doing something else.”
The ruling came after 17 Broncos veterans showed up at work Friday. Quarterback Tim Tebow wasn’t among them. The second-year pro who started the final month last season didn’t get into Denver in time to join his teammates.
“When I landed, the lockout was back on,” Tebow said.
In Tennessee, players were met by what they called “excessive” security Thursday when they arrived at the Tennessee Titans practice facility when they attempted to report.
Two armed off-duty police officers in uniform joined the Titans director of security, Steve Berk, at the only open side gate to the facility Thursday. The main gate remains chained and locked as it has since the NFL lockout began March 12. A member of the team’s security detail is also stationed at the player’s entrance.
“It’s a little excessive,” right guard Jake Scott, the Titans’ players representative, said of the security presence.