DAVIDSONVILE — Baltimore Ravens veteran wide receiver Anquan Boldin emphasized today that players aren’t going to rush to vote on a proposed collective bargaining agreement to resolve the labor dispute.
That is, not until they know all the details and review the document line by line.
"The deal has to be right," Boldin said today at Ed Reed’s charity golf tournament at Renditions. "The players felt like there was a handshake deal in place and felt like the owners tried to pull one over at the last second. The players know what’s going on.
"Football aside, you have to take care of yourself. When your career is over, you can’t go back to the owners then. You have to maximize what you can get while your earning power is at its highest. We know we will be playing football. We’re just trying to get the right deal done."
Ravens cornerback Domonique Foxworth has been keeping the players briefed on the latest labor developments. He’s on the NFL Players Association executive committee and a key figure in the labor talks.
"From talking to Fox, he said there’s been a deal that’s pretty good," safety Haruki Nakamura said before teeing off. "What the owners did, in the business world, it’s what you call a power play. I would feel like if we had the advantage we would do the same thing. That’s how that type of world works. It happens on Wall Street and anywhere else in the world. It’s something that’s going on with us we just want to make sure we’re dotting every ‘I’ and crossing every ‘T.’
"Fox seems pretty encouraged by the movement and the process and everything else. It’s just making sure everything that’s been negotiated is in the papers and that everybody understands fully what’s going on."
Nakamura predicted that a vote wouldn’t happen until Sunday or Monday, but believes the deal will eventually get done.
"I can almost guarantee it will be done," Nakamura said. "I would say probably Sunday or Monday. The best part about our group with the NFLPA we have guys who understand the business understand how to negotiate understand this is such a delicate matter.
"This is going to affect the next 10 years of the NFL. It goes both ways. We just want to make sure that everything is clear."
