07-11-25 Hour 1 of Broncos Country Tonight

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to a Broncos Country Tonight. Benjamin all Bright here
with you short show post Rockies edition. I hope you
guys are having a good week so far. I always
hate these East Coast swings because we have the we
have the game sandwiched in between US and NKA Sports,
and it sort of messes up a little bit of
the rhythm that you get going with this stuff. But

(00:23):
that'll be be done after this week and we'll be
back to regular schedules tomorrow. Full show myself Nick Ferguson
Live start at six pm for Ruckles Country Nights. You
guys want to be here for that. Appreciate you obviously
being along for the ride. Got a couple of different
stories I want to get to today. The main one

(00:47):
is about that story that we talked about a little
while back about the NFLPA and the NFL and the
collusion and how Babblatory found out about some stuff. Well,
there's there's some more to that. I'll get to that
in just a sacking, but right now, what I want
to get right off the bat was something that came
out of the Minneapolis start rebuting today, and that is
Vikings linebacker Dallas Turner was scammed out of a quarter

(01:08):
million dollars. He wired two hundred and forty thousand dollars
to scammers. The Start Tribunes reporting the police have identified
several suspects that are moving toward filing charges in about
one percent of the money, less than twenty five hundred
dollars has been recovered. According to court records. Dallas Turner

(01:31):
got a call on February nineteenth from an individual impersonating
a JP Morgan Chase banker, and the caller claimed someone
was attempting to impersonate him at a Chase Bank branch
in Arizona. The caller convinced Turner that to prevent that
person from fraudulely withdrawing money, that he should transfer his
money to two separate business accounts. Turner then went to

(01:53):
two different Chase branches and that each of them transferred
one twenty thousand dollars to fraudulent business accounts. Only later,
when talking to a relative about what happened to him,
to turn To begin to spect to suspect he'd been
the victim of a scam. Neither Turner or the Vikings
have commented publicly on the matter, and his attorney declined
to comment, but police have asked JP Morgan Chase whether

(02:16):
it's internal investigation indicated that any bank employees could have
played a role in the scheme. Turner, who of course
was taken seventeenth in the last year's NFL Draft, had
a fully guaranteed four year, fifteen point seven seven million
dollar contract that he signed. But the reason I bring
this up is it is it's tangentially. Obviously it's football related.
But if somebody calls you and they're saying stuff like that,

(02:38):
or somebody calls you about bank information anymore, if you
have anything going on with your banking, your credit cards,
any of that kind of stuff, shut it down on
the phone, immediately shut it down via don't respond to
the email, don't click any links in the emails. If
that's happening, go the next morning to your local branch.
Take a print out of that email with you or

(03:00):
that phone call. You know that you that you know,
take that information with you, but go inside your branch.
Don't get see. Too many people these days are getting
scammed out of fake help emails, emails that talking about
somebody did something to reset your password whatever. Don't respond,
don't click any of that kind of stuff. Don't don't
do any of that kind of stuff. Go directly into

(03:22):
your bank branch on that or delete the email. Then
go back and open a new browser, like shut the
browser down, open a new browser, go to you know,
if it's Google, go to Google and reset your password
if it's a Google thing or whatever. Don't ever click
through something or leave an existing browser tab open, because
that's they send you these fake sites. They get you
use name and password, and that's how they scam me

(03:43):
on this stuff. So that's my my public service announcement
for today. If anybody is ever claiming there's a problem
with your banking, your money, your crypto, your finances, whatever,
shut down whoever is saying that immediately and go to
your bank and find out. You're gonna go inside the branch,
they'll call them. Go inside the branch and find out.

(04:05):
Most of credit cards and and and bank accounts these
days have an app uh and in that app most
of them, for instance by credit cards and my my
banking have these have a a toggle switch in there
if you you find it where you could lock your card.
So if you think that you know somebody's using your

(04:26):
card number, any of that kind of stuff. You can lock
that and then go into the bank. And these days,
I mean banks will will pretch out a new uh,
a new debit card on the spot, most of them will,
and then you know, you know, you don't have to
wait for something in the mail and throw your whole
thing off. All that kind of stuff. So just uh,
you know, be vigilant. A lot of people out there scamming.
Those scammers get more and more sophisticated every year, trying

(04:47):
to get better and better. They're trying to get your money,
so easy way to do that. And we saw how
Dallas Turner here just got conned at a quarter million dollars,
you know, thinking he was doing the right thing. And
so just something to you to to keep your eye on.
The NFL has hired six new officials to replace the

(05:09):
six who were retired or not retained after last season.
And there's a bigger story about that at some point
that we're going to have to find a way to
find a way to get to because there were some
the NFL did quietly get rid of some officials because they,
you know, they were subpar in their in their officiating.

(05:32):
Marcus Woods from the ACC is an umpire down Judge
Andy Werner from the Big Twelve, Lion Judge Quentin Gibbs
from the Big Twelve, on Pire, Larry Smith from the
Big Ten, Umpire Brandon Ellison from the ACC and back
judge Courtney Brown from the Mountain West are the newest
additions to the NFL officiating crews. Alex Moore, who is

(05:55):
entering his fourth NFL season, is being promoted to referee.
He is the tenth new referee in the past eight seasons,
replacing Trey Blake, who was reassigned to umpire. Blake will
serve on the crew of Sean Smith, two veteran officials,
Umpire Paul King back judge Greig Meyer. They're going to

(06:15):
serve as swing officials. They'll move between cruz different crews
throughout the season. Field Judge Rick Patterson side Judge Boris
Cheek both will officiate their thirtieth NFL season, becoming only
the eighth and ninth officials to last at least that long.
Boris Cheek currently owns the record for most NFL games

(06:35):
officiated at four hundred and sixty five, including the pro season.
Just a little bit trivia in case you everyone to
know that The NFL also hired five new replay assistants
from the college ranks. Randy Roseberry from the Big twelve,
Daniel Buldric from the Sun Belt, Chris Raper from the ACC,
Bryan Smith the Big ten, and Marty Abestian from the

(06:57):
Sun Belt will be Uh we'll be joining the league
as well. Uh. There are the the crew's the new
cruise and I guess I can run these down for
you real quick. I could give you the rundown. He's

(07:17):
Bratt Allen is going to be heading one crew. He's
in his twelfth season as a referee. His crew will
have Marcus Woods, Sarah Thomas, Walter Flower for Patterson, Chad Hill,
Tyree Walton, Kevin Brown, Randy Roseberry, Cleete Blakeman, who's in
his sixteenth season as a referee. He's gonna have Scott Campbell,
Andy Warner, Kent Payne created to for James Coleman, jonaman Roe,

(07:38):
Chad Adams, and Amber Cipriani on his Carl Cheffers his
eighteenth season as a referee. We'll have Derrek Anderson, Daniel Gallagher,
Quentin given State, Jones E, Gene Hall, Martin Hankins, Brian
Matrren and Daniel Buldric on replay Land Clark's Crew, which

(07:59):
he's his sixth season as a referee. We'll have Mark Pellos,
Tom Stephen, Jeff Hutchin, jamiro Walker, Dominie Pander, Brad Freeman,
cheryld Fry and Chris Raper. Alan eck Is his third
season as a referee, and we'll have Tab Slaughter, David Oliver,
Greg Bradley, John Jenkins, Dale Shaw, Greatest Bell, Joe Walland
and Larry Hanson. Adrian Hill Is in his seventh season,

(08:19):
and he'll have Roy Ellison, Derek Bowers, Julian Mapp, Trey Boger,
Clay Rodard, Greg Steve, Bob Hubble and Dirwood Manley. Shawn Hockeley,
son of Ed Hockeley. We'll have Larry Smith, Patrick Holt,
Tim Petroza, Jason leed It, Jim Quirk, Jimmy Russell, Jamie
Nicholson and Adam choke On there John Hussey in his

(08:42):
eleventh season. We'll have Dwayne Hyte, Max Causey, Carl Johnson,
Anthony Fleming, Allen Baines, Matt Edwards, Andrew Lambert and Sabrina Brunson.
Alex Kemp in his eighth season, Brandon Ellison might call
Rusty Bain, Sean Petty, Low, Van fam Scott Halverson, Tim
England and Julie Johnson. Clay Martin is in his eighth

(09:03):
season as a referee, Stephen Woods, Gerard Phillips, Brian Perry,
Dave Hawkshaw, Alonzo Ramsey, Greg Wilson, Briant Thompson and Artenzia
Young Siegler uh in Theirs Alex Moore. This is his
first season as a referee. His crew consists of Terry Killings,
Dana a Ckenzie, Tom Eaton, Merle Robinson, Anthony Jefferies, Terrence
Miles and Tyler Sarah Melly and Desiree Adams on replay.

(09:27):
Scott Novak seventh season. For him, We'll have Mike Morton,
Bryan Sakowski, Mark Stewart, Terry Brown, Donalder, Tony Jocelyn, Matt
Sunshine Sunstein Sorry and Brian Davies. Brian Rodgers in his
seventh season, Brian Neil, Patrick Turner, Kevin Cody, Joe blue Ball,
David Meslow, Greg Yet did He's croud up, Brian Smith,

(09:51):
Shawn Smith's in the eighth season, uh and he'll have
Trey Blake j Bill bo Jeff Seaman, Delroy pri Aloo,
Boris Cheek, who again is the record holder for most
games officiated and he's the side judge there, Dino Paganelli,
Mike Wimmer, Larry Hill Junior on that crew, Rod Torbert
who's in his twelfth season, Barry Anderson, Franklin Block, Brian Bollinger,

(10:16):
Ryan Dixon, Keith Washington, Courtney Brown, Kevin Stein, and Marty
is a Bestian in his first year as a replay assistant,
Bill Vinovic seventeenth season as a referee. We'll have Scott Walker,
Dale Keller, Trip Sutter, Aaron Santy, Jimmy Buchanan, Todd prou Cop,
Chad Wakefield, and Jimmy Van Geffen. Craig Worldstad his twelfth

(10:41):
season as a referee. We'll have Brendon Cruz who was
on Carl Cheffer's crew last season, Danny Short, Brett Bragman,
Jeff Shears, Frank Strator, the Rich, Martinez, Gavin Anderson, and
Ken Hall. And then as we mentioned before, Paul King

(11:02):
and Greg Meyer will be the swing officials. They'll go through,
you know, and sub in for anybody that's needed. Uh
senior staff Perry Fuel is the senior VP of Officiating Administration,
Ramon George the VP Officiating Training and Development, George Stewart,
the VP Officiating Training and Development, and Mark Butterworth the

(11:22):
other VP of replay Training and Development. The trainer coaches
are Tom Hill, Mark Kittner, Bill Schuster, and Geene Sterator.
Greg Adams is the director of College Scouting for referees,
and the officiating coach coordinators Gary Arthur, Fred Bryan Walt Coleman,
Garth de Felice, Doug Rosenbaum, and Rob Verntacci. So tons

(11:46):
of referee stuff. They're all the Typically the gamblers want
to know that information. So there you go, there's tons
of I've got more information on all that. If you
guys want one of those talk about the rest, like
you ever want to know what they do in the
real world and they're not being referees, I have all
that information. I'm happy to share that with you. Like
you know, I think most people know Clive Blakeman is

(12:07):
an attorney. You know, there are plenty of different plenty
of different career, varied careers that a lot of a
lot of these guys come from. So just you know
something too. If you ever want to know I can
certainly help you with that. Oh we got I've got

(12:30):
a ton of other stuff. I wanted to get to
the CBA thing. I'll probably do that in the next segment,
just because it's it's a lot we're talking about. The
Vikings player got scammed. Well, the Vikings in the Will family,
not scamming. They committed five hundred thousand dollars to the
rescue and recovery efforts in the Texas flooding. The team

(12:52):
announced the move this mornings and quote, we are deeply
saddened by the continued devastation loss of life in the
Texas hill Country and can't imagine the pain some many
you're facing. We are praying for peace for the families
who have lost a loved one, strength for those who
continue to risk their lives leading the rescue and recovery effort.
It's an impressive gesture by the Vikings. Hopefully it'll cause
other teams to fallow suit. Texas obviously a hot bit

(13:16):
of football at the high school. At collegiate levels, it's
Friday Night lights as a feeder system for broad away
of college programs, and obviously a lot of those great
players make it to the NFL, regardless of whether other
teams jump in. It's a great gesture from a team
that's that quartered a long way away from the floods happening,
and so it's a reminder that while we all live
in our own individual states, we are all Americans. The

(13:41):
Falcons and Michael Pennocks got a chance to talk a
little bit. The release of Quarterbacks on Netflix has shifted
attention away back to the falcons decision to turn Penis
into their starting quarterbacks this season, and Kirk Cousins is
one of the subjects of the show. Then Cousins came
out and said he felt to the Falcons miss lay
to him by drafting Penix early in the first round

(14:02):
after signing Cousins as a free agent earlier in the season.
A draft choice meant cousins days as the starter in
Atlanta were obviously numbered, and Falcons made the move with
three games left in the season. Didn't leave much time
for Patics to get his feet wet, but he's not
looking at twenty twenty five as a de layed rookie season.
During an interview with former Falcons quarterback Michael Vick for

(14:24):
the team's website, Pennix made it clear that he'll only
view the coming year as a success if it ends
with the team playing in its first playoff game since
the twenty seventeen season. Penix was quoted as saying, postseason,
got to get it into the post scene, seeing the
dirty bird nest and all the little highlights and fans. Man,
they get rocking whenever we're winning, So I definitely want
to get back to that winning football games so we

(14:46):
can have the city turned. The twenty seventeen season was
also the last time the Falcons finished a year with
a winning record, so making good on his goal would
put Pennix on the right track in terms of that
becoming the leading man in Atlanta. I don't know if
he's going to be successful at it. I didn't see
a whole lot from Penix last year that led me

(15:10):
to believe that he was going to morph into that.
But we'll see. I have a full offseason, guy, and
we'll see real quick. Here the Giants are selling ten
percent of the team, and the player who used to
wear number ten was initially interested in making a purchase,
Now not so much. Eli Manning told CNBC Sports, basically,
it's too expensive for me. These numbers are getting very big.

(15:32):
A one percent steak of something valued at ten billion
turns into a very big number. Eli also pointed out
the purchase would create a lot of conflicts with the
other things he does, including his broadcasting gig at ESPN.
Maybe that was a shot at his nemesis, Tom Brady,
who knows. Speaking of Brady, the fact the Giants wouldn't
give the two time Super Bowl winner a sweetheart deal

(15:54):
underscores the cool friend discount Brady got from Raiders owner
Mark Davis. Brady, but his piece of a team he
never played for. It an embarrassing lee low three point
five billion dollar valuation, which is roughly a third of
the number that Eli Manning was floated for any potential
purchase in the New York Giants. That yeah, Tom Brady

(16:17):
got the homeboy discount from Mark Davis. And you know,
I mean, I think he just wanted his name in there.
I think that's to add a credibility. I don't think
that that was I certainly Mark Davis is a way
to sell the Raiders for three point five billion when
he could get double that. So we come back, we
get to the CBA thing. You guys, listen, to Broncos
Country to night right here on KAA welcome back to

(16:42):
a Broncos Country tonight, Benjamall Bardy with you and I
talked about it before we into the break, and we've
talked about it previously, I think a couple times on
this show about the Pablo Tory and Mike Florio sort
of getting the crux of the confidential agreement the NFLPA

(17:10):
and NFL head in terms of its its collusion case.
Now that that's out there, it looks like the Players
Association might be engaged in a little, uh, cover of
your backside. So here we are, two weeks after Pabulatory
finds out peel back to curtain on the outcome of
a collusion grievance at both the NFL and NFL Players Association.

(17:31):
It buried for more than five months. The nfl PA
made a decision, and according to Don Van Natta Junior
Kayln Kaylor of ESPN, the Players Association, led by executive
director Lloyd Howell Junior, decided to seek an appeal of
the ruling on Tuesday night. That information came from an

(17:57):
unnamed senior union source who told ESPN dot com that
the appeal is a reflection of our obligation to enforce
the CBA and our commitment to protecting our players' interests.
Will do what's best for players and will exhaust our
options in doing so. Officially, the Union declined to answer
questions from ESPN about the lag and the filing of

(18:18):
the appeal. The NFL will also declined to content to
ESPN on the matter. Beyond the obvious question of whether
the union would have made the decision to appeal the
ruling but for the reporting on its existence, which was
previously secret, is whether the Players Association has blown the

(18:38):
deadline for filing an appeal the decision, which was issued
on January fourteenth of twenty twenty five. Article fifteen of
the Collective Bargaining Ingredient, which sets forth the procedures conducted
by a system Arbitrator, has a clear and frankly short
deadline for activating the internal appeal process from Article fifteen,

(19:01):
Section eight A. For those of you who care quote,
any party seeking to appeal in whole or in part
an award of the system arbitrator must serve on the
other party and file with the system arbitrator a notice
of appeal within ten days of the date of the
award appeal from. Obviously, more than ten days have passed
since January fourteenth. Now, it's possible that the side deal

(19:24):
the league and the union struck to keep it secret
preserved their ten day window for filing a nose appeal.
Under such an agreement, which we don't know exists, the
ten o'clock would potentially not begin to tick until both
sides jointly released the full and official ruling, either of
which has actually done that. It's also possible, in theory

(19:45):
that the union filed a notice of appeal in order
to preserve the ability to pursue the full appeal and
most applett procedures. However, filing a notice of appeal isn't
an openated placeholder. It's the activation of a formal sequence
of events came dating it a full blown appeal. Regardless,
the Union will be appealing a decision that the union
had previously kept secret, and it seems inevitable that the

(20:08):
NFL or the NFLPA will be releasing the full official
text of that decision. So to break that down in
layman's terms, I guess the Players Association is appealing the
ruling which on January fourteenth, Arbitrator Christopher Droni ruled that

(20:29):
there wasn't sufficient evidence of collusion by owners and contract
negotiations with quarterbacks after the record fully guaranteed contracts signed
by Deshaun Watson back in twenty twenty two, and obviously
any collusion would keep salaries down violy the CBA between
the NFL and the union etta. But Droni concluded that
the NFLPA showed by a clear preponderance of the evidence

(20:50):
that Commissioner Roger Goodell and the league's general counsel Jeff
Pash had urged owners to restrict guaranteed money and player contracts,
and we saw that in what was released from the
Pubulotory podcast when they published the document, the sixty one
page document and created frankly a stir among union members.

(21:13):
Now some players had turned around to come out and
told ESPN everybody else they were surprised by the details
of the ruling. They didn't understand why the union hadn't
shared that ruling with them. So on Tuesday night, which
would be last night, nearly six months after Drony's decision,

(21:35):
the NFL Players Association and Lloyd Howell just decided to
seek an appeal of the ruling. The arbitration case is
centered on discussions among league exacts and owners that after
the Browns signed Deshaun Watson to the record two hundred

(21:55):
and thirty million dollars five year guaranteed contracts back on
March eighteen, twenty twenty two, and whether the talks affected
negotiations with quarterbacks like Kyler Burray, Lamar Jackson, and Russell Wilson,
who was at the time seeking a contract from the
Denver Broncos we later got one. Droni included text exchanges

(22:21):
and emails among league execs and owners, and his ruling
saying that concerted action was contemplated and invited at the
March twenty twenty two owners meeting. Now, the union declined
to answer questions about why its decision to appeal took
six months or what it supposes that its grounds for
appeal are, but under the CBA, it will be heard

(22:44):
by a panel of three arbitrators. Attorney Peter Ginsberg, who
has represented many NFL players for decades, said that he
was stunned to hear about the confidentiality agreement. Ginsburg, who's
a lawyer at Moscowitz Coulson, Ginsberg and Schulmann said, quote.
As the head of the union, Lloyd has an obligation

(23:06):
to protect the best interests of the players, and by
agreeing to a confidentiality agreement, the union purposely blocked the
players from receiving crucial information about the operations of the NFL.
The NFL and the Union should not be conspiring to
gather to keep important information from players. End quote. So
the union's decision to appeal a nearly six month old

(23:29):
decision comes at a time when Howell's leadership. Lloyd Howe's
leadership has come under scrutiny on multiple fronts. Several sources
related to ESPN that the union last month hired Ronald C.
Mackin of the law firm Wilmer Hale to work with
a special committee of players to review Howell's activities as
the executive director. Macinndeclined to comment on that when asked.

(23:56):
According to multiple sources talking to ESPN, the mackint led
inquiry was ugreed by ESPN reporting in May that the
FBI and federal prosecutors are investigating the union's financial dealings
related to a multi billion dollar group licensing firm, One
Team Partners The firm was co founded in twenty nineteen
by the NFLPA and the Major League Baseball Players Association.

(24:21):
Howell and MLP Executive Director Tony Clark are on the
one team board. Under the terms of the confidentiality agreement
between the union and the NFL, the sixty one page
arbitration ruling was to be shared only with the league
and new lawyers and a handful of senior union and
league executives while the NFLPA is considering its next legal move.

(24:44):
Multiple sources said droning the arbitrator was aware of the
confidentiality agreement. Droney also declined to comment to ESPN. Not
long after the agreement was struck, Howell briefed the executive
committee of ten active plays and union president Jalen Reeves
mabn was a Detroit Lions linebacker in a conference call, and,

(25:05):
according to sources briefed on that meeting, Howell informed the
committee that the NFLPA had lost its collusion grievements, but
did not share any details of Droney's findings or share
copies of the ruling with the players, and instead blamed
his predecessor D. Maury Smith for wasting resources on the
three year league battle. It was Steve Maury Smith who

(25:26):
filed the grievance back in October of twenty twenty two.
Multiple sources familiar with the union's history say they're not
aware of the union previously striking a confidentiality agreement with
the NFL that kept arbitration rulings from being shared with
the union's Executive Committee and thirty two player representatives. Despite
the CBA stating that members of the Executive Committee and

(25:48):
player reps have the right to receive copies of all
arbitration rulings, that did not happen in this case, last
March the nflpa's annual meetings held in Hawaii, Copies of
the rulers were not shared with the NFLPA thirty two
player representatives. Multiple union sources have come out and said
during Smith's fourteen year tenure as executive director, he and

(26:10):
union lawyers routinely shared copies of arbitrators rulings with members
of the Executive Committee and player reps. Four Executive Committee
members Orin Brooks Berks excuse me, Thomas Moristead, Ted Carris,
and Cameron Hayward were reached out to by ESPN. The
old decline to comment. Hayward declined to talk because the

(26:34):
situation at the union was dicey. That's the reason he gave.
An NFLPA player rep who spoke on the condition of anonymity,
told ESPN that in the week after the really became public,
the union did not send out any communication to its
player reps regarding the arbitrator's decision. Veteran NFL agent Mike McCartney,

(26:55):
who is the son of legendary CU football coach Bill McCartney,
who negotiated the first multi year, fully guaranteed NFL contracts,
backed inn for Kirk Cousins, said Drony's conclusion that management
council encouraged teams to reduce guaranteed money would have been
useful to players and agents working to negotiate deals the
past six months. Quote. In the end, transparency protects everyone

(27:20):
players agents in the integrity of the process, McCartney said.
Lorenzo Alexander, a fifteen year NFL veteran who serves on
the executive committee from March twenty fourteen through March twenty
twenty one, told ESPN that during his tenure, quote, there
typically was some type of communication or updates as far
as what's going on. This is what we're doing, especially

(27:42):
with the president. The executive committee members might not have
been called up for the day to day stuff, but
typically the president and executive director worked pretty closely. From
his experience end quote. One former player rep who has
not to be named, questioned the union's silence about the
arbitrator's ruling. Say, my first real action was like, why
in the heck would they not tell the players or

(28:02):
not what this to be public? What's going on? The
player said? And then I thought, well, the strategy makers
for the union, they do tend to keep a lot
of things pretty buttoned up. So my hope is there's
a good reason why they did it. End quote. According
to the CBA, appeals to arbitration decisions have to be

(28:24):
filed within ten days. We already covered that, right. People
familiar with the matter said the confidentiality agreement contained language
that allowed the union to exceed that deadline, and also
allowed the league additional time to seek reimbursement of its
legal costs. Today, a source familiar with the league office

(28:45):
said the NFL notified the union of its intention to
seek legal fees and costs and excess of twelve million dollars.
The union elected Howell as executive director back in June
of twenty twenty three, and he was paid three point
four million last year. According to a source who heard
Howells pitch the executive committee, he ran on a platform
of quote fresh ideas and transparency. And for those who

(29:10):
don't understand, the easiest way to say it is this. Basically,
when the Browns offered Deshaun Watson the fully guaranteed contract,
the other owners around the league were alarmed, thinking this
was going to be the new norm, and relayed that
to Commissioner Roger Goodell, who in turn re relate it
to other owners, pointing out that they do not want

(29:32):
this to become the norm. The Players Association had fired
a grievance suggesting collusion and the reasons that Kyler, Murray,
Lamar Jackson, and Russell Wilson did not receive fully guaranteed contracts.
All three had initially sought that in their initial ask.
Russell Wilson had asked first seven million, like two hundred

(29:54):
and fifty million dollars deal, which I mean that was
the starting point in negotiation. Now they fairly looking at
the communication, they fairly convincingly concluded that there was no
collusion with regard to the Broncos not giving Russell Wilson
a fully guaranteed deal. Russ ultimately signed a deal that
did get him a lot of money that Broncos fans
I think are less than happy with, but that comes

(30:15):
off the books. After this year, Kyler Murray, there was
some communication between Cardinal's owner Michael Bidwell and the Spanhouses,
who owned the Chargers. After Kyler Murray was signed to
a deal that was definitely not fully guaranteed and had

(30:35):
some interesting clauses in it about doing his film homework
versus playing video games and those kinds of things. Bidwell
received messaging from the Chargers saying congratulations. Bidwell shot back, yeah,
we got him at a a great deal for the team,
and the Spanhouses sent back a message saying thank you.

(30:57):
This is going to make it much easier for us
to sign Justin Herbert, who's was due up for a
contract the next year Lamar Jackson, and there was no
collusion found there, although the discussion afterwards makes it sort
of seem like the you know, the Chargers are at
least eternally grateful for precedent resetting by the Cardinals. Lamar

(31:17):
Jackson's a wildly different situation because Jackson represents himself, he
does not have an agent, and his entire process with
the Multimore Ravens, where he asked for a fully guaranteed
deal multiple times, he was the one that pressed for
it more than the other two, made it difficult to
be able to Teams didn't even have his number to

(31:38):
be able to reach out to him, and it made
it difficult because what exactly is tampering if you're repping yourself?
Can you know? Can I have direct contact if you're
not exactly a free agent yet? Do I need I
need permission from the team? Et cetera, et cetera. There
were a lot of reasons. There were one or two
teams that were interested in Lamar Jackson, but once word
got out that the Ravens were going to match any offer,

(32:02):
then anybody gave Lamar Jackson, which was the tag they
had on him. There was no point in teams pursuing
Lamar Jackson, and so at that point it wasn't collusion.
It was simply the Ravens had the structure to be
able to keep other teams away and not negotiate against themselves.

(32:26):
And drive up the price of Lamar Jackson. Now, whether
or not you believe the league has colluded in other areas,
and I think if you talk to anyone who's ever
played in the league, they certainly believe that or harbor
that there's some such sentiment of that, whether or not

(32:47):
you believe they do or don't. In this particular situation,
the Players Association lost because they couldn't prove it. However,
there's a ton of damaging to the league correspondence that
was brought up in this and so the big stink
now is players wondering why the Players Association signed a
confidentiality agreement with the league so as not to release

(33:09):
this stuff which would have been potentially beneficial to its
members and the agents representing them, Because even if owners
didn't collude, it does show what they're worried about. It
does give a lay of the land that puts everybody
on equal footing in terms of knowing what it is
that owners want, Knowing what it is how they want
to do things but they want they want to avoid,

(33:29):
and how agents and players can attack that to get
a bigger piece of the pie. And so now you
have a players Association that has lost faith in its
leadership and Lloyd Howell, who may have a conflict of
interest because of the co branding deal that he signed
with Major League Baseball on which he is a part

(33:51):
of the board in one team. And so there's a
lot that's that's coming out of this. The appeal. We
don't know the grounds that's on and we'll wait to
find that out till that's officially filed. But that's what
this is, sort of taking interesting turns as it moves along,
and that's something that will will definitely be keeping you

(34:13):
updated on. You guys are listening to Broncos country tonight
right here on KA