saintsfan1976

Are agents colluding to secure guaranteed money for second round picks?

Are scouts discussing player evaluations colluding to prevent a player from going round 1?

Are players holding out for new contracts in the middle of their current contract colluding?

AsylumGuido

Not in any illegal sense. Working together to form a united front is not against the law. The agents are not doing anything in "secret" nor are they trying to "cheat or deceive others".

This has always been a common practice. Shady or unethical? Possibly so, but doesn't fit the definition of collusion at all.

That is simply a negotiating ploy. The teams commonly ask players to reduce their pay in the middle of contracts. Quid pro quo. Nothing here implies any sort of illegal collusion.

As I mentioned earlier, the legal analyst that appeared on NFL radio discussing this suit read the whole week's worth of testimony, as well as the ruling by the independent arbiter (ruling no illegal collusion was evident). He stated that there were indeed things that had bad optics (owners thanking other owners for not doing a veteran fully guaranteed contract, etcetera), but nothing came close to satisfying the definition of any sort of illegal collusion.

The NFL is first and foremost a business. A huge business. We all know that businesses can be cutthroat and otherwise unseemly. And, yes, sometimes even illegal. But not in this case.

“The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” — Winston Churchill