No Extensions Because of the CBA?
An interesting point made by Tom Curran this afternoon over at NBCSports.com is that the Patriots haven't extended any of their veterans past 2010. After that season the NFL's current collective bargaining agreement will expire, and that could be a reason why guys like Vince Wilfork and others have yet to receive a contract extension.
Curran reports that Patriots owner Robert Kraft explained the thought process behind it recently.
"We don't know what the rules are going to be (under the next CBA)," Kraft told the website. "We know our agreement is going to have to change. It's not sustainable the way it is now for the entire league."
Asked if teams may be assessed luxury taxes, Kraft said, "We don't know what it's going to be."
"We don't know what the rules will be and we don't want to put ourselves in a position where we could be penalized for making poor decisions now when we don't know what the rules are. No one knows, we don't know. What could happen is we don't have any agreement."
Richard Seymour, Stephen Neal, Nick Kaczur, Ben Watson, Alex Smith, Jarvis Green, David Thomas, Kevin Faulk, Tedy Bruschi, Leigh Bodden, Logan Mankins, Russ Hochstein, Stephen Goskowski are also among other big names who's deals end at the end of this year. Needless to say this could be the reason why there are so many deals set to expire and why we haven't seen any of these players extended just yet.
