With the NFL set to lock out players at midnight Thursday night and NFL players expected to decertify their association earlier in the day, NFL labor armageddon has arrived. Calvin Watkins reports that Jerry Jones has made his way to the middle of the mess.
The NFL ownership labor committee is in Washington, D.C. for the talks with the NFLPA and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is there team officials have confirmed.
The owners are expected to have a brief meeting around 11 CT with more talks with the union possibly for the evening.
The NFL's labor committee consists of Jerry Richardson (co-chair), Pat Bowlen (co-chair), Mike Brown, John Mara, Art Rooney, Clark Hunt, Mark Murphy, Robert Kraft, Dean Spanos and Jones.
Meanwhile, Jason Garrett's new coaching staff met with some of their players today, presumably to help players prepare for the shutdown and to understand what they can and cannot do.
"Yeah we had a meeting today," Cowboys fullback Chris Gronkowski told WFAA-TV in Dallas. "We talked about [the potential lockout] and everyone is concerned about that. Right now, no one knows how long it's going to last. We just kinda got to get prepared for the offseason."
"Just trying to get everyone ready," tackle Sam Young said. "I think you come closer down to crunch time and everyone has questions and everyone is just trying to figure out what's exactly going on. So I think it was just more getting everyone prepared."
While Jason Garrett remains in place, there was significant turnover on his staff, and the new Rob Ryan defense will have to be installed once the lockout ends.