The NFL lockout rolls on for another day but it appears by many accounts that this thing could be wrapping up on Thursday when the NFL owners convene in Atlanta. Hopefully that's the place where they'll approve the labor deal and then the football people from all 32 teams will hit up a labor seminar designed to educate them on the intricacies of the new deal.
The general feeling around the league right now is optimism but, as usual, there's a wrench being thrown in the mix. Patriots G Logan Mankins and Chargers WR Vincent Jackson, both of whom are named plaintiffs in the Brady vs. NFL antitrust lawsuit and both of whom sat out half the 2010 season because of the free agency rule changes in the uncapped year, are seeking compensation as part of the lockout settlement.
Yahoo! Sports has learned through multiple sources that the agents for wide receiver Vincent Jackson and guard Logan Mankins have requested that their players either become unrestricted free agents when the lockout is over or that they receive $10 million each as part of the settlement.
This isn't completely crazy news, or unprecedented (but it's certainly annoying). Some folks figured this would happen. In 1993, the last time we went through a settlement like this, the named plaintiffs also received some special treatment in that those players were not eligible for the franchise tag. So something like this has happened before.
Mankins and Jackson must feel especially screwed over because they haven't been eligible for free agency yet in their careers thus unable to collect the big money.
We shall see what happens with this but I hope one side just sucks it up and pays them the money. No reason to let it screw up the timeline of the deal now.