Well, we have hit the part of the sports year that most people dread,the NFL offseason. This offseason though shouldn’t be a quiet one.The main thing that everyone that is evolved in the NFL is going to be worrying about is a Lockout. Yes, the dreaded word that has an act of destroying professional sports leagues could plague the NFL. The problem is that the NFL is making money but the owners aren’t. The owners want to make the players give up some of the money from the last deal. In the New York Times they talked to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and the executive director of the National Football League Players’ Association DeMaurice Smith and they had these quotes to offer us in light of the NFL collective bargaining agreement which is set to expire after the 2010 season.

“I keep coming back to an economic model in America that is unparalleled,” Smith said. “And that makes it incredibly difficult to then come to players and say, on average, each of you needs to take a $340,000 pay cut to save the National Football League. Tough sell.”

A day after Smith had his say, Goodell talked about the owners’ liability. Since 2006, he said, the N.F.L. has generated $3.6 billion in incremental revenue and additional revenue. Of that, he said, $2.6 billion has gone to players, causing the owners to be $200 million worse off than they were in 2006.

This is a piece of an article on ESPN.com and it is pretty good at telling us what the league had proposed to the players.

Smith said the latest NFL offer to the players would reduce their share to 41 percent of applied revenues from about 59 percent. He emphasized that the teams take $1 billion off the top of the estimated $8 billion the league generates.

Pash argued that the $1 billion reflects actual costs incurred, money “invested in things like NFL Network, NFL.com, putting games on overseas, all of which is intended to and has in fact had the effect of generating substantial additional revenues, 50 percent of which go to NFL players. And the union knows that’s true, because the union has absolute rights to audit those expenses.”

Echoing Goodell, Pash said Smith’s assertion that players are being asked to accept an 18 percent pay cut — the $340,000 per-player-average figure — was among the “misrepresentations of what our proposal is.”

The thing is if putting on games in London cost the owners to much money, why are they doing it? The fact is that the NFL isn’t a worldwide sport and it will never be. I just don’t understand why you would waste money on an event that doesn’t seem to bring in to much money. The thing is if a team is losing money it is their fault I believe because with the contracts they have such as the ones with DirecTV and the various broadcast networks being disbursed through the revenue sharing program.

The NFL just has to look what happened to the MLB when it decided to do this exact thing, well they pretty much lost the title “America’s Pastime.” The union is there to protect its members yet if this goes through the players are gambling a years worth of salary or more. The union doesn’t need to know if teams are losing money but, the owners don’t need to be stingy either. Both sides will be harmed if a lock out does happen but more importantly they might lose some fans just like baseball did. This thing needs to be solved with a new bargaining agreement soon.

Well it seems that this is always on the list of offseason questions ” Will Brett Favre return?” Favre got killed during the NFC Championship team and would have to go through another season to get what he really wants, another Super Bowl win, or a better way to leave the game unlike the interceptions that he seems to end the past few seasons.  Everyone knows Favre is a Top 10 quarterback but I don’t think he knows that. Favre has struggled with letting go of the boy game he loves but I have to admit it makes for fantastic entertainment to watch him cry during press conferences, throw passes to high schoolers and to watch commercials were he makes fun of himself. I hope Favre keeps coming back because it doesn’t hurt me, he is the one that is going to have a horrible life after football.

Another quarterback that hasn’t done anything since he got in the league will be talked about and that is JaMarcus Russell. What do the Raiders do with him?  The problem with it is that Russell is to expensive and they spent a high draft pick on him. He will be under center if I can boldly predict.

The Eagles have to many quarterbacks, Will they keep all of them? I don’t think they will keep Vick. He was only used sparingly and only had a few bright spots in 2009.  I think the Rams should really pursue a couple years with Vick at the helm of their offense this will help make the decision to draft Sue with their #1 pick.  I don’t think they will and the Eagles might be stuck with Vick with no choice but to pay him and play him.

The Redskins got their man in Mike Shanahan but what will he do. He is going to draft a QB and it will probably be Sam Bradford. I think Shanahan is a genius on the offensive side of the ball but he is horrible at personnel decisions and the Redskins better keep him away from the personnel room. The thing is the Redskins have a decent QB in Jason Campbell in my opinion. They should try for a defensive player.

Lets go to my biggest headache and that is will Brandon Marshall and Anquan Boldin be dealt. They are both likely heading out of their respective towns, but where? Boldin is a strong receiver and a team that has championship potential but is  a few play makers away is the Baltimore Ravens. Marshall on the other hand will most likely stay in Denver because he is worth to much but won’t get his worth. I proposed that these two teams just do a straight up trade and swap disgruntled employees. Marshall if I had my way would go to the Browns for Quinn and Cribbs. That way the Broncos can draft Dez Bryant, either way they should still draft him.

Lets look at disgruntled defensive linemen now.  Julius Peppers always lights up the offseason with rumors of being traded from the Panthers and I believe this year he will finally leave and will end up in New England to try and help out their defense. Peppers is a stud but struggles with being on the Panthers.  Osi Umenyiora wasn’t happy in New York and I think the Gaints could gets some quality players and picks back for him, which they need badly to help get back to championship form. Umenyiora can bring a lot to a defense and I think the Cowboys should try to go after him.

The draft is always a huge part of the offseason and plenty of teams will need help from the players they draft. The uncapped year should be fun with the Cowboys turning into the Yankees of football. Who knows if that will be good for them but it will happen. I love the offseason and I hope we see a lot of teams get better, I’m not talking to you New England you guys should try and miss the playoffs this year. The NFL has plenty to think about and I only hit a few of the storylines that I feel will be important.