NFLPA Mishandling Of Saints Suspended Players Case Shows Lack Of Focus

For all practical purposes the efforts of the NFL Players Union to protect the interests of the NFL players has been a comedy of errors, if not a dismal failure since and including the last CBA.

The recent fiasco at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana is just more proof that these guys need to do some serious work at getting their heads focused.

The lawyers for the NFLPA somehow forgot they aren’t licensed to practice in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, and filed a lawsuit on behalf of Anthony Hargrove, Scott Fujita and Will Smith anyway. The NFLPA were very fortunate to get their suit included with the Jonathan Vilma suit to begin with; they better hope it gets puts back in Judge Berrigan’s court after they regroup and get it refiled.

It appears that the NFLPA will have to come to an arrangement with a local outfit in New Orleans like Vilma’s attorney Peter Ginsberg already did. They can salvage this thing, but they already have egg on their faces. With luck the judge will still take them seriously as the legal professionals they’re supposed to be, but who’s to say.

Perhaps the quickest thing the NFLPA can do is to call the Williams Group who has been handling filings for Peter Ginsberg and Jon Vilma. With the Williams Group as the middle men perhaps attention will be diverted away from the initial mishandling by the NFLPA. One things for sure: The scheduled hearing with Ginsberg, Vilma and the other 3 suspended players will now be put on hold.

Get ready for a long drawn out drama, as if we didn’t have one already.