The Madden Cover will have either Payton Hillis or Vick.

The schedule is out. The Browns might actually win some games. ESPN had four hours of coverage on this. If the games are not on time, the NFL is going to have a publicity nightmare on their hands.

Payton Hillis won!

Yeah Lions defence going to be scary

Espn likes what the AFC north did on draft day.

Very glad for Peyton Hillis. I just wish Josh McDaniels hand't been an idiot and traded him to the Browns.

Quarterbacks are always getting it. It's rare to see a running back from a team that didn't even make the playoffs make it. On contribution, Hillis gave more to the Browns than Vick did to the Eagles, imo.

EDIT: Ok, I went and looked up the answer to the question. There is roughly a nine billion dollar pool of money. The owners take a billion off the top and then split the rest with the players with players getting 59% and the owners getting 41%. The collecting bargaining agreement ended in March 2011. The players were content to have things remain as is. The owners wanted 2.4 billion off the top, and then to split the remainder with the players as before 59/41. This is roughly an 18% pay cut to the players as a whole. The players have asked that the NFL owners open their books and prove that they will face financial ruin if they don't get 2.4 billion. The owners have refused.

At this point the players decertified their union, the NFL Players Association, and 10 player filed an anti-trust lawsuit (something that couldn't be done while they were a union) against the owners forcing the issue into court where the owners may have to prove their claims of financial ruin. In addition, players and owner both want Rookie salary caps. The players want the money to be given to proven veterans while the owners are not willing to necessarily agree to those terms. Basically the 18% pay cut would affect rookies and free agents anyway, since players under contract cannot be compelled to give back money.

Lastly the owners want the schedule extended to 18 games, which the players are staunchly against. I guess the reasoning is that two more regular season games will bring in more revenue than a pre-season game will. A judge ruled against the owners and a for a couple of days the facilities were opened, however a three judge panel of the 8th Circuit court of appeals has ruled in favor of the owners, pending a full ruling by the full 8th Circuit. So for now, all facilities are off-limits to players. However many of them managed to get their playbooks during the days the facilities were open, and many players are doing workouts together at undisclosed locations.

Its a shame too. Its all about money. The NFL is a giant cash cow. I can see both sides of the issue where both sides feel that the money involved should be divided more in their favor. The problem is both sides come off looking bad considering the current state of the economy. Both the Players and the Owners are making giant sums of money. They just want more. We as a consuming public want football to be played. We love football. Most would agree that NFL football is the new American pastime having overtaken MLB baseball's spot. But if they are not careful, they could alienate fans just as MLB had done. In my own case, i used to follow baseball for a long time, Ive liked Football to but baseball the main thing. That has totally changed for me ever since the strikes of the early 90's for me. They've more or less turned me off even though I still keep track of the Tigers and Yankees having lived in NYC and Detroit. Football however to me is so much bigger now, However if they want to fight over a comparatively small amount of money when it's all said and done, then I'm not gonna waste my money on going to games any more..................................... Ummm did I just say that... Well... it will take a while for that to happen, Especially considering Detriot finally got a MOnday night game, but we shall see.

Also, an 18 game schedule will make Fantasy a lot funner but I'm sure the players don't want to do that!

Well, the players may not want more, but they're not willing to take less. It sounds like the owners still have some explaining to do before I'm willing to reach a conclusion on the issue. Are you sure the owners haven't given any reason whatsoever as to why they want an extra $1.4B? I feel like at this point there should have been something said, even if it wasn't really a valid reason. By the way, what was the anti-trust lawsuit even about? I'm not sure that I see how a trust is an issue here.

You could argue that many NFL players are already making millions of dollars so an 18% cut shouldn't really matter to them. However, I'm more inclined to think contrary to that argument. While it's true that the elite players make way too much money, you can't forget about the 3rd string players that are on the team that make, comparatively, next to nothing; despite not being a starter, football is a career for them, and some of them are only making a few hundred thousand over the course of 4 or 5 years, translating to the equivalent of a high-end middle-class income. The principle of the cut in player salaries is the issue; like Rikalonius said, there's no way I'd agree to an 18% cut in my salary without reason (or ever, for that matter). I just don't know what to think here. On the one hand, I kind of feel like the players, despite being de-unionized for the time being, are overusing their collective bargaining power just to avoid losing money, but on the other hand there's the 18% cut.

I stand corrected on Quarterbacks getting it. :P I voted for Jarred Allen last year. I still disagree that Vick contributed more than Hillis. Vick is a good quarterback in a good system, I'll try to leave his dogfighting career out of it. Hillis was an outstanding running back, completely underrated by the "professionals" prior to getting a start, in a team with absolutely nothing around him. A terrible O-line, that left poor Colt McCoy eating lots of grass.

On the lockout. I'm mad at both sides, but at this moment, I side a bit with the players. The owners claim they need another 1.4 billion or they'll go broke, but they are unwilling to open their books and prove it. The owners have stated that players need to "assume more risk" (financially) in the success or failure of the league. The players are not shareholders, so this is categorically not true, but if you are unwilling to share your financials with them, how can they be asked to assume more risk. I'll look it up in a bit, but I can only assume that the player representatives filing the suit are claiming the owners are acting as a 'trust' i.e. a monopoly, to prevent players from working and earning money.

Did we draft on a Friday or Saterday last year?

I think doing 10 teams is a good number. If anyone new wants to join let me know.

Yahoo and Facebook games seem to be connected this year.

Lockout will be lifted on Monday. NFLPA and Owners have agreed to a new CBA, players will vote on it on Monday, and it is greatly expected they'll sign off on it.