Steelers News: Team President Art Rooney II’s statement on the new CBA between the NFL/NFLPA

The Pittsburgh Steelers 2019 season is officially over. After finishing the year 8-8, the Steelers, and their vast fan base, has another long offseason awaiting them. Just because the games are done doesn’t mean we stop providing you with features, commentary and opinions to tide you over throughout the offseason!

Today in the black-and-gold links article we take a look at Art Rooney II’s comments shortly after the NFL and NFLPA signed a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).

Let’s get to the news:

• Art Rooney’s statement on the newly signed CBA between the NFL and NFLPA.

Art Rooney II statement on CBA

By: Steelers.com

Steelers President Art Rooney II Statement on the Collective Bargaining Agreement

We are excited to have come to terms with the NFLPA on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement that I believe is fair for the players, teams, and our fans. Many people worked very hard at finalizing this agreement. It is a win-win arrangement that will allow the NFL to continue to grow and provide significant increased benefits to both current and retired players.

It is great that we can now move forward and allow the focus to remain on our team’s preparations for free agency, the draft, and then the 2020 season without any disruptions associated with the absence of a new labor agreement.

To read the full article, click HERE (Free)

• And the Baltimore Ravens’ defense just got a whole lot better...

Jaguars to trade DE Calais Campbell to Ravens

By: Nick Shook, NFL.com

The mayor of Sacksonville is leaving office.

The Jacksonville Jaguars are trading Calais Campbell to the Baltimore Ravens in exchange for a fifth-round pick, NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport and NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reported. The Ravens quickly got to work on a new contract for Campbell, coming close to finalizing a new two-year, $27 million deal that includes $20 million guaranteed, Rapoport reported.

Campbell, the reigning Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year, has served as the face of the Jaguars since he signed with Jacksonville in 2017 in what was a surprising move east from Arizona. The combination of Campbell’s age and contract made him a trade candidate, though, and he’s headed north to a legitimate Super Bowl contender in the final year of his current deal.

Campbell was due to account for $17.5 million of Jacksonville’s cap in 2020, and with the Jaguars owning just $14 million in projected space after tagging fellow edge rusher Yannick Ngakoue (per Over The Cap), it was time to trim salary somewhere. They’re doing so by shipping out perhaps the most important player to the franchise in the last five years, a tough decision to make but a wise one in the long run.

To read the full article, click HERE (Free)

• Get ready for more playoffs in 2020!!

New CBA includes playoff expansion to 14 teams

By: Nick Shook, NFL.com

Say hello to more high-stakes football.

NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reports, thanks to Sunday’s vote in favor of the new collective bargaining agreement, the NFL will add a seventh playoff team in each conference effective in 2020, raising the total playoff bids available from 12 to 14.

Gone is the first-round bye for each conference’s No. 2 seed, increasing the importance of the top position in the AFC and NFC standings. Another wild-card team joins the fray, giving us three for each conference and a visiting opponent for each division winner that didn’t finish with the top seed on Wild Card Weekend.

This could make the regular season’s final weeks much more interesting. Instead of debating whether teams with berths secured should rest starters in the final week or two of the regular season, those contenders will likely be playing for playoff seeding, battling for the lone bye and a more advantageous first-round matchup. The window increases for fringe teams, too, as the defending NFC champion Los Angeles Rams and gritty-but-undermanned Pittsburgh Steelers would’ve snuck into the playoffs at 9-7 and 8-8 last season under the new format.

To read the full article, click HERE (Free)

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