NFL and NFLPA Battle Over Court Ruling

The bizarre StarCaps case is pitting the NFL and the NFL Players Association in a battle of accusations. After the Eight Court ruled that Vikings players Pat and Kevin Williams could challenge their suspension from the NFL in Minnesota courts, thus preventing the NFL from enforcing the suspensions, the NFL took a shot at the NFLPA.

The NFL issued a statement Friday claiming the NFLPA did not stand behind “the program it negotiated with the league,” by keeping silent after a federal appeals court in Minneapolis ruled Vikings players Pat and Kevin Williams could challenge their four-game suspensions in state court.No chance the NFLPA was going to take that lying down, they shot back immediately.

“The players objected to a system where the NFL can withhold information from its players and nonetheless punished the players for some something about which they were unaware,” the NFLPA statement reads.“What the NFL dismisses as mere silence, players challenged in the pursuit of fairness. Nonetheless, the NFL knows that the players continued to seek a mutual resolution of this issue up until this decision. The NFL’s concern for uniformity is as important today as it was before the 8th Circuit’s decision. We are reviewing the decision, but we continue to welcome the opportunity to discuss a resolution that is fair to all players.”

All the way back to the start of this mess, when the players charged that the NFL knew there were banned substances in StarCaps supplements and didn’t inform the the players, this case was doomed to become a battle between the NFL and the players. Now, with the Eight Court’s decision that allows the Vikings players free to play all year while leaving Saints players Will Smith and Charles Grant subject to suspension, it’s getting uglier.