Panthers Players Gather For First Workout Amid League Lockout

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Perhaps no team is in need of off-season practices more than the NFL-worst Carolina Panthers. After falling behind their division rivals, the Panthers finally gathered Tuesday for their first player-organized workout since the lockout began. They also did their best to make sure no one saw them.
Players hired a police officer to shoo away reporters from the high school where they were working out on the hot, humid morning. Cones blocked another entrance to the field at Charlotte Christian. Left tackle Jordan Gross, who organized the two weeks of practices with left guard Travelle Wharton, said reporters wouldn't be allowed in until the last day June 9 to prevent distractions.

"We're just trying to prepare to win some football games," said Gross, who wouldn't reveal the number of players on hand.

CARRY ON

Don't Fret, NFL Won't Lose Year

Although this is Memorial Day weekend and not Labor Day, when the NFL season is just a week away, fans of pro football usually get jacked up this time of year, too. After June's mini-camps come July's training camps, and after that the season is near.Well, don't sweat the loss of the NFL season while sitting on your favorite beach today and tomorrow.By the end of this week, players should start to squirm while the owners' grip on the lockout remains steady and strong.

You see, on Friday the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will decide whether to overturn U.S. District Judge Susan Nelson's decision to lift the lockout. Legal experts predict the players will lose Friday and the lockout will continue. If the lockout continues, the owners win. The owners might not win in the short term -- the season could be lost or abbreviated, so the owners could lose money.But make no mistake, the owners will win. Eventually, the players will come back. They have to come back. The owners know this.

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Carolina Should Let DeAngelo Run Away

Carolina Panthers free agent running back DeAngelo Williams will be one of the hottest players available when the restriction on player movement is lifted, although it is unknown just how far he will be able to move.

Williams has been in the league five full seasons and technically should be an unrestricted free agent under the current league rules on free agency. However, depending on how the lockout shakes out when it is all said and done, five year players may only qualify for restricted free agency status.
So, as of now, Williams can go anywhere he wants, even back to Carolina, but I would say that it's highly unlikely considering the price he could command on the open market. The Panthers have too many holes to commit a huge amount of guaranteed money to a guy who has missed 16 games since joining the league in 2006.

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Chris Weinke / Calling New Signals

Chris Weinke had an itch to get into coaching after his NFL career ended in 2008, but he wasn't sure where or at what level. Sports is part of his DNA. A decorated athlete at Cretin-Derham Hall, Weinke won a national championship and the Heisman Trophy as a quarterback at Florida State. He played professional baseball before college, and started 20 games at quarterback in his seven NFL seasons. But the St. Paul native hadn't established any concrete long-term plans after his athletic career finally ended.

"Played a lot of golf," the 38-year-old said.

His life took a new course, however, after he ran into a staff member of the renowned IMG Academy at a Florida State football game. That spurred a process that led Weinke to become director of the IMG Madden Football Academy, which opened last spring in Bradenton, Fla. Known for its work with golf and tennis prodigies, IMG hired Weinke to help launch its football academy, which offers specialized camps and instruction for players at all levels. His clientele includes a 13-year-old quarterback from Kentucky, high school kids hoping to earn a college scholarship and ... Cam Newton, the 2010 Heisman Trophy winner from Auburn and recent No. 1 overall pick in the NFL draft

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Don't Get Sucked In To Lockout HYSTERIA

Lockout hysteria. I get it. Media outlets, including this one, have billions of dollars tied to America’s national pastime, the NFL. Individual media brands such as Peter King and Mike Florio have thousands, if not millions, of dollars tied to America’s national pastime, the NFL.I get lockout hysteria. I just don’t agree with it. Professional football isn’t too big to fail. In fact, it might be a good thing if the NFL suffered a comeuppance, a retreat to a more appropriate place in the American fabric.

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Locked-Out Players Line Up For Cash Loans

As the NFL work stoppage continues with no end in sight, some cash-strapped players are taking out high-risk, high-interest loans to get them through the lean times — some as big as $250,000 with interest rates as high as 30 percent. Players make their entire salary during the regular season, and many rely on offseason workout bonuses to get them through the spring and summer. With opening day — and their next payday — uncertain, some are turning to lenders like AGR Sports Funding, a Virginia-based firm that specializes in lending to professional athletes.

Jason Yorker, owner of AGR, likes to think of himself as a lifeline for NFL players. When cash gets tight, they can turn to him to borrow, as he puts it, “a couple extra hundred thousand dollars here and there.”

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Buffalo Owner Ralph Wilson Never Wanted That Deal NFL Owners Now Can't Seem To Stomach

Ralph Wilson has owned the Buffalo Bills since they were one of the original eight teams when the old American Football League was formed in 1960. He has seen it all in the last 51 years.

"I'm 92 years old, closing in on 93," he said by telephone from his Detroit home last week.

He only gets to a handful of Bills games each year now. He's not quite as mobile as he used to be. "If I can walk to the breakfast table, it's a great day," he said laughing.
It was no joke just over five years ago when Wilson and Bengals owner Mike Brown cast the only negative votes in a 30-2 landslide to approve as a package deal the take-it-or-leave-it collective bargaining agreement proposed by the union and a revenue sharing plan among the owners. Looking for peace at any price, the owners caved in.

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Would The NFL Be Destroyed If The Players Won?

NFL players recently scored a significant victory in their labor dispute with the NFL owners when U.S. District Judge Susan Richard Nelson ordered an immediate end to the lockout. Although this decision has subsequently been blocked by a higher court, for a brief moment in time it looked like the NFL was in serious trouble in their fight with the players. Roger Goodell -- Commissioner of the NFL and chief representative of the NFL owners -- even began thinking about a world where the NFL players achieve complete victory in this dispute.

In the Wall Street Journal, Goodell has laid forth a vision of such a world; and in Goodell's view, it threatens the very existence of the NFL as we know it. Goodell imagines a victory for the players producing the following outcomes:

CARRY ON http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-berri/why-do-the-nfl-owners-hat_b_859555.html

Rumors Fly Of Complete NFL Shutdown

So if the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals upholds Judge Susan Nelson’s ruling that the lockout should be lifted while the Tom Brady antitrust lawsuit proceeds, the league will simply open the doors and allow business to continue as usual until the Brady case is settled, right?

Maybe not.

We’re hearing initial rumblings pointing to the possibility that a loss by the league at the appellate level will prompt the owners to completely shut down all business operations until the players agree to a new labor deal.

CARRY ON http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/05/08/rumors-fly-of-a-complete-nfl-shutdown/

Steve Smith Frustrated With Both Owners And NFLPA

Steve Smith reportedly wants to play somewhere other than Carolina in 2011. He’s getting sick of having to wait to find out where that is.

Smith told Steve Reed of CarolinaGrowl.com that he finds the lockout “frustrating,” and that he has no idea what to expect for 2011.

“It’s on hold because we’re not even allowed to presume there will be football,” Smith said. “That privilege, and I emphasize privilege, has been taken away. There has been some mud-slinging going on, and people have had a chance to see the business aspect of football. . . . I don’t agree with how everybody is handling it. I’m going to be fair and say I don’t agree with how owners are handling it and I don’t agree with how the trade association is handling it because things could be better. But they are really so far apart.”

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/05/06/steve-smith-frustrated-with-both-owners-and-nflpa/

DeMaurice Smith Like a “Psycho Ex-Girlfriend?”

If there’s anything we’ve learned from the NFL Lockout, it’s that there is absolutely no trust or respect between the main parties involved. The players are convinced the owners are simply trying to pull a selfish power play for cash. In particular, there’s a huge lack of respect from players for NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.

“A lot of the players hated him even before this went down, and now they really hate him,” one prominent player for an NFC East team told Yahoo’s Michael Silver last Friday. “He’s not smooth, charming or witty. He never seems honest when he talks to you. And he’s a dope. They should change his name to Roger Goon-dell.”
“You think any vet will shake his hand when he’s at a game next year?” asked one AFC North player. “I hope he’s gone.”

So yeah…he’s not a popular guy right now amongst the players.
Rest assured however, the owners are just as negative about the leader of the players’ cause – NFL Players’ Association Executive Director DeMaurice Smith.

“Roger is trying to do business, and De [Smith] is like a psycho girlfriend who doesn’t know what he wants, doesn’t understand what he’s involved in and [who] you can’t reason with,” one owner told Silver. “With psycho girlfriends, at least you can move on eventually. But Roger is stuck with him right now.”

Carry On http://buffalowdown.com/2011/05/05/demaurice-smith-like-a-psycho-ex-girlfriend/

NFL's Rookies Don't Need Time Off This Summer

No playbook to decipher. No minicamps to attend. No film sessions to digest.

No opportunity to work with NFL coaches or pick the brains of veteran players.
For NFL rookies - quarterbacks in particular - the learning curve gets steeper and steeper.
Depending on how long the lockout goes, Cam Newton's first season with the Carolina Panthers might be a bust. If so, it won't entirely be his fault; he'll be a victim of circumstances.
Same for Jake Locker, Andy Dalton, Blaine Gabbert, Christian Ponder and any other fledgling pro quarterback whose maturation process is on hold.

Carry On http://hamptonroads.com/2011/05/nfls-rookies-dont-need-time-summer

Ziemba Endorses Teammate Newton / `He Just Enjoys The Game So Much, He Studies The Game Hard'

AUBURN, Alabama -- Lee Ziemba, a past and future teammate of Cam Newton, has given his endorsement of the much-scrutinized former Auburn quarterback who was selected by the Carolina Panthers with the first pick in the NFL Draft. Ziemba's assessment gives insight on Newton after much pre-draft analysis by others.
"Cam is a great guy. I like to say he's like a kid playing the game of football. He just enjoys the game so much, he studies the game hard, he works his tail off in the weight room and the practice field. It's amazing just to watch him playing under the lights," Ziemba said in an audio interview posted on the Carolina website.

http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2011/05/lee_ziemba_on_formerfuture_tea.html

Another Sign Times Changing In Carolina

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- As the Carolina Panthers were preparing to make Cam Newton the No. 1 overall pick in the draft, we talked several times about how the climate in the offices of Bank of America Stadium was changing. Heck, the Panthers gave a pretty good indication of that before the lockout when they signed tight end Jeremy Shockey. Newton and Shockey would have been the kind of players the old Panthers wouldn’t have gone near. Newton’s a quarterback and former coach John Fox didn’t believe in drafting quarterbacks early because he thought they took too long to develop.

Even with Fox out of the equation, there were reports about possible background issues for Newton, and the Panthers generally have stayed away from guys with checkered pasts. The current regime did its homework on Newton’s past and it didn’t stop them from taking him. But, even as a pure football decision, taking Newton didn’t come with any guarantees.

http://espn.go.com/blog/nflnation/post?id=40245