Who do you blame for the current lockout?

[MikeO]

That's why when I said when the lawyers left the room and the talks came down to Goodell and his inside circle and Smith and his inside circle, the edge went to Smith. Smith is a lawyer and he was dealing with people who probably have never been in those kind of high level talks before!! That is a huge edge!

Smith played his hand perfectly and had this insurance thing in his back pocket the whole time. He will come out of this smelling like roses!

[masterfins]

^^^ Yeah I'm sure the NFL's Millionaire & Billionaire owners don't have people that know anything about "high level talks".  I fear the insurance policy will only serve to draw out the negotiations, and possibly lead to a shortened season.  $200K will tide the players over for a month or two, but not much longer for some.  The owners aren't going to completely cave in for the long term over short term losses.

[fyo]

Smith played his hand perfectly and had this insurance thing in his back pocket the whole time. He will come out of this smelling like roses!

I don't think either side comes out smelling too well... The amount for this year will (according to reports) end up being $141M per club ($120M cap + $21M benefits), which is exactly the amount the owners offered before the NFLPA disbanded itself back in March. A deal Smith called the worst deal ever in any pro sport.

In addition, there's a rookie cap and all "tags" are still in place.

And if the latest reports are to be believed, the players will cave on judicial appeals as well, meaning that disputes get settled by binding arbitration (although the arbitration panel isn't "Goodell" as it pretty much was before).

The one thing players got out of this compared to the March owners proposal is that future revenue is based on actual revenues and not projected revenue. So if growth outstrips projections, the players will get more money in later years of the CBA.