EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. (AP) – Welcome back, players. For now, at least.
The NFL opened its doors for some basic football operations Friday morning, four days after a federal judge declared its 45-day lockout was illegal. There were smiles, high-fives and clear signs of relief as dozens if not hundreds of players returned to team headquarters.
“From the players’ standpoint, I think everybody is pleased we’re not locked out anymore, especially the rookies,” Patriots quarterback Tom Brady said on CNBC in his first public comments about the dispute since he became one of the 10 plaintiffs in the federal antitrust lawsuit still pending against the NFL.
Despite the halting steps toward football, the legal fight is far from over. In fact, attorneys for the players filed a brief Friday to challenge the NFL’s request that the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis restore the lockout as soon as possible.
Attorneys for the players wrote that the owners failed to offer evidence that they will suffer irreparable harm if the lockout is not restored. They also suggested that the public and the players, with their short careers, are at far more risk when the $9 billion business is stalled.
“Professional football is part of the fabric of American life,” the attorneys wrote. “Because the uncontroverted record of evidence shows that the 2011 season could be canceled or significantly curtailed without an injunction in place, a stay may deprive the public of professional football altogether.”
But on Friday, at least, the players were back, from Tony Romo in Dallas to Chad Greenway in Minnesota and DeAngelo Hall with the Redskins.
About a dozen Carolina Panthers players entered Bank of America Stadium, where a voluntary meeting was planned and players were expected to receive their playbooks from new coach Ron Rivera. One of the first to arrive was quarterback Jimmy Clausen, whose job may be in jeopardy after Carolina drafted Auburn’s Cam Newton with the No. 1 overall pick.
Center Ryan Kalil said the lockout has been good in some ways because he’s been able to rest more and spend more time with his family. But Kalil was eager to reunite with his teammates.
“I don’t think anyone thought it was going to get to this point and it did,” Kalil said. “It’s nice there’s a little light at the end of the tunnel, and we get to come back and get out of that funk. We’ll see what happens moving forward.”
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said the league would hold a conference call later Friday to address player transaction rules. The guidelines for free agency, trades and other roster moves expired with the collective bargaining agreement on March 11, the same day the players’ union was disbanded to clear the way for a court fight.
“What we’re doing right now is having to adjust, obviously, to court decisions,” Goodell told New York Jets season-ticket holders. “The most important things for us is to obviously respect the decisions of the court, and secondly, make sure we proceed in an orderly fashion and inform all 32 of our clubs, to make sure we’re doing it in a responsible fashion.”
For the first time all offseason, players have been cleared to talk with coaches, work out at team facilities and get their playbooks. The Tennessee Titans’ main gate, which had been chained, was open Friday morning after players were turned away by two armed security guards earlier this week.
Mandatory minicamps and voluntary offseason practices can begin under rules of the old CBA. Team-supervised workouts will count toward bonuses in player contracts, and players also can work out on their own at team facilities if they have health insurance in place.
The league also will arrange for substance abuse and drug programs to start back up, and players can participate in team-sponsored community and charity functions.
At least 11 Redskins showed up at the practice facility at Redskins Park in Ashburn, Va., including Hall, Kedric Golston, Graham Gano and Lorenzo Alexander, who was turned away from the workout room the previous three days.
Players also started trickling in with the Giants, Chiefs, Bears, Jets, Seahawks and Dolphins.
Giants receiver Devin Thomas flew in from Michigan on Thursday night so that he could be sure to get in a workout and talk to his coaches. His only problem? The tubs weren’t filled up.
“I was geeked; I had to get back,” he said.
The Detroit Lions already have scheduled organized team activities for Wednesday, and the Bears have set a rookie camp for next weekend.
Brady said the bitter fight over the league’s future has not compromised the close relationship he has with Patriots owner Robert Kraft.
“I think our relationship is much deeper than that,” Brady said. “I don’t think it’s Tom Brady suing Robert Kraft. … It’s certainly not personal. He was at my wedding. We have a great relationship. We’ve always had (one). And I’m sure that’s going to continue.”
Goodell, who was roundly booed by fans at Radio City Music Hall on Thursday, said he feared the fight could last for a while. He said Friday he gets why fans booed him: “It’s the fans’ frustration, and I understand that.”
“It’d be great to have everybody back in the building, but the real thing is we’ve got to get back to the negotiating table and get a CBA,” Jaguars owner Wayne Weaver said.
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AP Football Writers Arnie Stapleton and Barry Wilner and AP Sports Writers Dennis Waszak, Tom Canavan, Stephen Hawkins, Mike Cranston, R.B. Fallstrom, Larry Lage, Mark Long, Tom Withers and Joseph White contributed to this report.
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