PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan)- We've seen leagues that have games being played or scheduled to be played, shut it down.
But the NFL is smack dab in its offseason. Another official "league year" is set to begin next week, or at least it starts a period in which clubs are permitted to contact, and enter into contract negotiations with, the certified agents of players who will become Unrestricted Free Agents upon the expiration of their 2019 player contracts at 4:00 p.m. on March 18.
"We'll see about next week. Everything is status quo until it's not. There's a lot of teams that think it's a bad idea to do this the way it is currently set up. They don't understand why a week or two week pause wouldn't make sense," said La Canfora. "Agents aren't, by and large, wanting their players to get in planes and fly across the country to take physicals."
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And then there's just some teams from a PR standpoint who are saying the prevailing conversation in this country is about everything shutting down. The economy in some degree is being ground to a halt. But, 'Hey, lets put out that press release $55 million guaranteed for this guy,' like is that the conversation you want to have right now? Is that a good look?"
While the league, so far, has been staunch against moving any dates, La Canfora says that doesn't mean teams are totally on board with the proceedings.
"Team have pulled their guys off the road for pro days, they've pulled scouts off the road. They've sent non-essential employees home, some teams have straight up closed their headquarters. That, to me, was a response to the league office saying, 'It's not really business as usual and this doesn't have to happen next week. And it doesn't have to happen the way you guys want it to happen.' Sometimes less is more. Sometimes a little bit of a pause can be a good thing, we don't have to steamroll through everything."
You can hear the entire interview with RADIO.COM NFL insider Jason La Canfora on The Fan Morning Show below, including his thoughts on the CBA, Vontaze Burfict's attempted comeback and how this all impacts the courting of Tom Brady.