Union Ready to Back Players Who Challenge NFL Free-Agent System

Gene Upshaw, head of the NFL Players Assn., said today the union would back any player who challenges the league’s Plan B free-agency system.

Because the union has decertified, it no longer is a valid representative of the players. But Upshaw said that wouldn’t stop the association from offering free advice to a player who takes the league to court over the system that allows teams to protect 37 players from Feb. 2 through April 1.

“Quite naturally, if any player was interested in becoming the plaintiff in a lawsuit, we would definitely want to talk to him,” Upshaw said. “We’re not out soliciting plaintiffs, but we know who they are, and we’ve had a number of them call us. We would help those people.”

The National Football League has sought an injunction in Minneapolis to stop individuals from filing suit against Plan B but has yet to receive a ruling in the case.

The league put Plan B into effect last year after the owners and the players union failed to reach a collective bargaining agreement. The process, which enables those players not on a team’s 37-man protected list to become free agents, was challenged unsuccessfully by the union in court in 1989.

“I think that it’s an injustice that the better players in the league never get the chance to become free agents,” Upshaw said. “It penalizes players who do well. If you do well, you have the distinct honor of being protected, and that’s not fair and it’s not right.”