JJ Watt Becomes First Prominent Player To Reject The NFL Owners’ CBA Proposal

While NFL owners spent most of the day on Thursday cautiously optimistic their newest Collective Bargaining Agreement proposal to the players would be accepted, talk of “peace” between the league and the NFLPA hit a bump in the road on Thursday night. Houston Texans’ defensive star JJ Watt posted on Twitter he was not in favor of what he’d seen in the plan. Watt was short, sweet and to the point initially simply posting, “hard no on that proposed CBA.”

In announcing he was not in favor of the deal, Watt became the first prominent player to voice his displeasure. While he certainly doesn’t speak for the entirety of the player’s union, it casts a bit of doubt on just how much of a chance this deal has to pass when it goes in front of the player reps on Friday.

According to ESPN, there were some owners who weren’t in favor of the deal either. All 32 owners met on Thursday in order to hash out the details of a proposal that includes adding one more team from each conference to the playoffs and one more game to the regular-season schedule. Three-fourths of those attending had to vote in the affirmative in order to send the plan to the players. It garnered enough support to pass even if it wasn’t unanimous.

After it passed, the league issued a statement that was equal parts hopefulness and pressure on the NFLPA to quickly ratify and reach an agreement.

“Following more than ten months of intensive and thorough negotiations the NFL Players and clubs have jointly developed a comprehensive set of new and revised terms that will transform the future of the game, provide for players — past, present, and future — both on and off the field, and ensure that the NFL’s second century is even better and more exciting for the fans.”

Reactions to JJ Watt’s announcement that he’s not happy with the CBA were swift on his own Twitter account. In what could be a sampling of how NFL fans will react to the lack of a deal, some of his followers were supportive of the Texans’ star while others thought he was acting spoiled. One user told Watt he should “go work at McDonald’s” if he didn’t like the offer.

Another user explained to the first that the point of having a labor union is that Watt and the other players don’t have to accept what is offered to them without working to make it more palatable. Whether the rest of the union will take JJ Watt’s side or decide to accept the bargain could be decided by Friday evening.