The Denver Broncos and Dallas Cowboys are both involved in contentious contract negotiations with star wide receivers at present. While the ongoing talks between the Broncos and Demaryius Thomas and the Cowboys and Dez Bryant seem only distantly linked, in that one team is likely waiting for the other to sign their player and set the market, a recent report from ESPN's Adam Schefter paints a very different, potentially very costly picture for both franchises.
"NFLPA is reviewing information to determine whether there was collusion between the Denver Broncos and Dallas Cowboys on the unsettled contractual situations of franchise WRS Demaryius Thomas and Dez Bryant, per an NFLPA official," writes Schefter. "The NFLPA believes the Broncos and Cowboys had contact about each players' contract when the collective bargaining agreement prohibits such contact. The NFLPA now is trying to determine if collusion did occur and when to possibly file a claim. The deadline for the WRs to sign long-term deals is Wednesday of next week."
Thomas and Bryant were both given the franchise tag for wide receivers this offseason, which carries a value of approximately $12.71 million.
Both players entered the league via the first-round of the 2010 NFL Draft, Thomas at No. 22 and Bryant No. 24. Set to enter their sixth NFL seasons, neither player was able to hammer out a long-term deal with their organization prior to this offseason, hence the application of the franchise tag.
While protracted contract negotiations are not in any way abnormal for the NFL, collusion is a rarely uttered word in an NFL world where secrecy is king and an old-boy's network of football men run nearly all 32 front offices.
This isn't the first time though, that collusion has been contended in the NFL, albeit in a very different manner.
The NFL and NFLPA agreed to impose $46 million in salary-cap penalties against the Cowboys and the Washington Redskins in 2011 after it was determined that the two franchises had treated 2010, an uncapped year, as if it had no cap. The union then accused the NFL of collusion and attempted to initiate litigation.
