The Dallas Cowboys and Denver Broncos have yet to sign their respective star receivers—Dez Bryant and Demaryius Thomas—to longterm deals, and the deadline to do so is this Wednesday. According to an ESPN report, if Thomas and Bryant don’t get new deals by the deadline, the players’ union will bring a collusion case against both teams.
The union’s potential case would stem from an alleged phone call that took place between Bryant and Cowboys COO Stephen Jones. According to a source who spoke to Pro Football Talk, Jones revealed during this conversation that he had spoken to Broncos GM John Elway about his negotiations with Thomas, the implication being that Jones and Elway agreed to keep their respective offers within the same price range so as not to drive up the market price for either receiver. It seems like the union is pretty serious about this (via ESPN):
The NFLPA informed the Dallas Cowboys and the Denver Broncos on Monday that they need to preserve any emails, phone records, texts and records of other communication between the two teams, according to the source.
There’s certainly something a little disingenuous about the union threatening to bring a collusion case only if Bryant and Thomas don’t get longterm contracts—whether they sign or not doesn’t have anything to do with collusion having occurred—but who cares? Strong-arming teams into opening their wallets with thinly veiled power plays is exactly the kind of shit the union hasn’t been doing enough of lately.