I missed the 1987 NFL players’ strike, but I had a good excuse: I wasn’t yet born. So, reading up on it is, in a way, similar to studying history.
Except that football is way more interesting than the English Parliament.
The strike had huge implications across the board: for the league, the NFL Players Association and even the fans. The goal was to revamp the free agency rules to be more player friendly (previously, teams could have been forced to give up draft picks or players for a free agent, which meant those guys missed out on more money), but the NFL wouldn’t budge. Reforming the league’s collective bargaining agreement (the “CBA”) was not what the owners wanted to do.
The players began the strike in week two, and the NFL responded by canceling week three. Teams began filling the roster holes with replacements — “scabs” — and the fans were furious. Though some big-name players (Mark Gastineau, Joe Montana, Howie Long, Tony Dorsett and Steve Largent) crossed the picket line to play anyway, many stayed out until week seven.
The Players Association didn’t get what it wanted, and free agency remained confusing for years.
However, it wasn’t bad for everybody. If you were an incoming rookie, free agency in 1987 was a good option.
“The way the draft process went back then, it was better after the third round — if you didn’t get picked — to go into free agency,” former NFL player Gerold Dickens says. “That was the first form of free agency coming out. The NFL had just gone off of the strike. They had the ‘scabs’ playing in place of the other guys at that time, and, in New England, some of those guys were still on that team.”
Dickens explains that, after the third round of the NFL draft, teams would stop thinking strategically and try to sabotage their counterparts.
“Some teams would just draft you to keep other teams from drafting you, and they really didn’t need you,” Dickens says. “Free agency gave you a chance to pick and choose where you wanted to go. So, I told my agent that if I didn’t get drafted in the third round I wanted to go into free agency. That was my choice.”
He ended up signing with the New England Patriots for a base salary of $75,000 and calls that one of the best decisions he could have made.
Another difference between then and now, though, was the developmental system. Or the lack of it.
Today, some players are paid to be a part of a team’s practice squad — a group that attends practices and is available to be called upon to replace any players for any reason. In 1987, there wasn’t much of a chance to play because many of those players would be placed on injured reserve.
“Our developmental squad was IR,” Dickens says. “You might not be injured, but you were on injured reserve; you were waiting.”
After A years with the Patriots and one with the Orlando Thunder, Dickens decided to hang up his cleats and pursue other ventures.
It just goes to show that, although not everyone is able to make an illustrious career in the pros, a wisely managed career can be a good learning experience for anyone. Hopefully, though, no one will have to deal with the fallout from a strike and an unfriendly-player league again.