Submitted by dave crockett, Jun 20, 2007 10:00

Were Gene Upshaw inclined to challenge the owners on anything they would have already made it clear that they could no longer work with him, which would constitute something like a U.S. veto on a nominee for U.N. Secretary General.

I think these May minicamp contact drills are the ugly residue of the league's hard salary cap. Turning over a good third of NFL rosters every off-season puts coaches and GMs in the position of needing to see all but your superstars in something that vaguely approximates gameday conditions. Making a personnel mistake on a backup cornerback or offensive tackle can very well be the difference between a playoff berth or sitting at home in January. So I think coaches become prone to these sorts of fool's bargains, allowing a little extra contact at the risk of injuring players. Of course the Giants would be far better off with a healthy Jim Finn than they are for having seen him take on some blitzer in shorts and shells.

The commish could put a stop to these contact drills tomorrow if he chose to by merely announcing a hefty fine and that his staff will start making random unannounced visits to camps. The far more compelling question than "why doesn't the NFLPA do something?" is "why doesn't the commish do something?" Unlike the NBA where almost all the stars are top 20 picks, the NFL finds its stars from all over the draft and as undrafted free agents (especially at positions where the injury risk is quite high, like guard). The NFL can't afford to lose late round picks like Marques Colston or role players like Jim Finn to contact drills in shorts and shells that add only marginal information to the store of knowledge coaches have about their rosters.

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