2011 NFL Mock Draft thread.

[Lotus]

Originally Posted by BuckSkin

I won't pretend I know, well because I don't. How would this scenario really play out? We can agree that chances are that a new agreement will not be signed before the Draft, but rookie contracts wont be signed before the agreement either. So, what happens, if the new CBA does indeed contain a rookie cap? Will it cover this year's draft class or not start until 2012?

If the players' injunction against the lockout wins through appeal, the owners will have to create operating rules and a new season will begin, even absent a CBA. There is a good chance that those operating rules will be the same as the rules from last year, even though the owners were not fond of those rules, since the players can't really file a lawsuit or scream antitrust against rules created within the context of a CBA which they signed. So, in this scenario, even without a CBA, rookies will be signed according to last year's rules: no rookie wage scale.

There is no guarantee that things will go down this way, of course. But they could. And this uncertainty alone may make teams wary of trading up into the top spot, the top 5, or the top 10.

If a CBA is signed over the summer, no one knows whether a rookie wage scale will be retroactive. Hence, in this latter scenario, the same uncertainty arises, likely with the same reticence of teams to trade towards the top.

What a mess.