Today’s questions about the Broncos come from Jim Balcerovich in Colorado Springs. Send your questions via e-mail to jlegwold@denverpost.com.
Q: If there is no new collective bargaining agreement by draft day, does that then preclude any John Elway-to-the-Broncos or Phillip Rivers/Eli Manning type deals during the draft this year? No draft-then-trade deals like we’ve seen sometimes in the past?
A: Jim, the current labor climate could make this draft a unique affair to be sure.
It’s an odd set of circumstances. This draft is officially the final item on the current labor deal, which expires well before the draft. It’s set up that way because of all of the preparation, travel and other administrative things it takes for a team to construct a draft board.
Scouts and personnel executives are criss-crossing the country these days for on-campus pro days. Teams can also bring more than two dozen players to their facilities for on-site visits in the weeks leading up to the draft. That’s a lot of logistics without even taking into account the postseason all-star games and the scouting combine in Indianapolis.
So that’s why the 2011 draft will go on, deal or no deal.
If there is no new collective bargaining agreement by the time draft weekend rolls around, it would certainly limit trades.
In any set of circumstances — whether the NFL Players Association decertifies and several high-profile players lead a lawsuit against the league under anti-trust laws, or in the event of a lockout by the owners — there won’t be any player-for-player trades allowed in this year’s draft without a new CBA.
Only trades involving draft picks for draft picks can be done, and nothing is allowed involving players whom teams may have under contract.
Teams could conceivably discuss trades that would be completed in the future, but to simply draft a player as part of a future deal for another player selected would be a risk because of the uncertainty over how long the wait would be to finish the deal — because those kinds of trades couldn’t be finished on draft day.
Many in the league say teams have discussed potential trades involving veteran players under contract to get things in place for if/when they get a new labor deal. It’s likely whenever the two sides finally are able to hash something out on the labor front that more than a few trades will be conducted in the first few days of a new deal.
That’s because the framework will already be in place for getting a deal done when teams do get the word to proceed with their business.
But it’s tough in some respects to do a whole lot because teams don’t really know what free agency will look like in future years. Will players be unrestricted free agents after three or four years or perhaps some other scenario? They also don’t know what the roster sizes will be, for example.
It will likely make for fewer trades during draft weekend overall and require teams to simply stay put and draft players in the slots they have.
Jeff Legwold: 303-954-2359 or jlegwold@denverpost.com
