Aaron Rodgers: 'I voted no' on proposed CBA
Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers spoke about the current collective bargaining agreement negotiations between NFL owners and the NFLPA on Wednesday.
The 15-year veteran was selected by his teammates to be the NFLPA player representative for the Packers. He explained he voted against a proposed CBA the two sides spent four hours discussing Tuesday night.
The NFLPA board voted early Wednesday morning to send the proposed CBA back to its membership for a vote.
"I voted no last night," Rodgers wrote. "My decision to vote no is based off of the conversations I have had with the men in my locker room that I'm tasked to represent.
"This deal will affect every player that ever plays this game and we have made this decision with only an abbreviated version of the deal and that isn't good enough."
Included in the proposed CBA is a 17-game regular season, two extra wild-card playoff games, and a $250,000 cap on Week 17 game checks, among other items.
"(Sixteen) games to me, was never something to be negotiated," Rodgers continued. "The owners made it clear that the 17th game is about paying for the 'added' benefits, and had nothing to do with positive feedback received about any extra risks involved with the added regular-season game," he said before noting the 2019 Packers would have lost their first-round bye had the proposed system been in place.
Rodgers admitted he has been less involved in the negotiations than the NFLPA's executive committee, but his standing as one of the front-facing players in the league has given him a unique platform. Fellow quarterbacks Tom Brady, Drew Brees, and Peyton Manning were heavily involved in the proceedings during the 2011 NFL lockout.
San Francisco 49ers cornerback Richard Sherman, an executive committee vice president, supported Rodgers and said he also voted no.
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