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The NFL Players Association will meet this week to conditionally vote on a new collective bargaining agreement that includes an outline for a 17-game regular-season schedule, according to an ESPN report on Sunday.

ESPN’s Chris Mortensen and Adam Schefter reported that the NFLPA will convene for a meeting of its executive committee and 32-member board of player representatives at an undisclosed location to vote on the league’s current proposal for a new 10-year collective bargaining agreement.

A meeting Thursday in Miami lasted six hours but failed to result in a vote, due partly to hesitation by some player representatives to “accept the one thing they hate, a 17-game season, in exchange for 10 or more things they want.”

However, according to the report, the player reps who met Thursday apparently softened their stance after being led through a point-by-point analysis of the proposal, which led to the decision to hold another meeting this week.

NFLPA head DeMaurice Smith tells ESPN, “if we want to hold out and get everything we want, that’s probably going to mean a two-year strike.” CBA talks reaching a critical point this week: https://t.co/tKARvwcz7k

— Dan Graziano (@DanGrazianoESPN) January 29, 2020

Last week, San Francisco 49ers cornerback Richard Sherman, a member of the NFLPA executive committee, said the league and team owners were putting a “price tag” on player safety in pushing for a 17-game regular season.

“I don’t think it’s something the players are interested in, honestly,” he said ahead of his team’s appearance in Sunday’s Super Bowl LIV. “It’s odd to me, and it’s always odd, when you hear player safety is their biggest concern, and they’re really standing up for player safety, player safety, player safety, but it seems like player safety has a price tag.

“Player safety up to the point of, ‘Hey, 17 games makes us this much money so we really don’t care how safe they are, if you’re going to pay us this much money to play another game.’

“That’s the part that’s really concerning for us as a union and us as players. They think that players have a price tag on their health, and I don’t think we’re in the same ballpark in that regard. Players have been more aware of player safety and longevity and life after football.”



Other highlights of the new labor deal include increased share of revenues for players, increased spending minimums for clubs, an additional playoff game for the 2020 season, changes to the league’s drug policy regarding marijuana, modified on-field discipline fine schedule and increased benefits for former players.

–Field Level Media (@FieldLevelMedia)