The Biggest Losers

With an NFL lockout inevitable, it's clear that we the fans will have to suffer an offseason of uncertainty and perhaps even a shortened football season come this fall.  However, we will not be the biggest losers in the battle of billionaires versus millionaires that will be staged in the coming months.  That title has to go to the coaches.  While the owners and the NFLPA each tries to expand their share of the pie, coaching and front office employees will stand idly by as their livelihoods hang in the balance.

While we the customers are concerned about no football in the fall, some coaches and front office staff are already feeling the pain of a lockout before spring has even arrived.  There are reports of teams cutting employee hours due to the decreased workload they expect over a quiet offseason.  And while most head coaches will still receive their regular salary, many of their assistants will suffer a pay cut in a lockout.  Despite receiving less compensation, these coaches will still work full-time to scout players, review game tape, and prepare their strategies for a season that could start at any point.

And once a new CBA is in place, then the struggle for the coaches truly begins.  Imagine the owners and players finally shake hands in the first week of September, as I expect them to.  The NFL will then hastily open a free agent period where teams scramble to resign their players and coax new additions to their squad.  With a pool of over 500 available players that includes names like DeAngelo Williams, Sidney Rice, Nnamdi Asomugha, and Santonio Holmes, expect this to be an extremely chaotic time where coaches and GMs will get little sleep.  

Once the players get back into team complexes, coaches will have little more than a week of practice to decide which veterans to cut, which draft picks to start, and what strategies to use for the rapidly approaching season.  And good luck to those teams that hired a new head coach and/or coordinator in the last two months.  Whereas they would typically have spring OTAs, training camp and four preseason games to hammer home their systems to their new players, they'll now have to fit those months of teaching into a mere few days.  Teams like the Patriots, Steelers, and Saints, who have an established and long-tenured coach and quarterback, will have a significant advantage over teams who made a coaching switch after last season.  If you're a fan of the 49ers, Browns, Titans, Broncos, Raiders, or Panthers, know that your team will be handicapped next year before they even step on the field.  And if you root for the Giants, Dolphins, Bengals and Texans, be thankful that your team wisely didn't switch coaches in the worst offseason to do so.

Obviously, this lockout is an unfortunate situation that will hurt everyone from the players and owners themselves to the fans who love the game.  But none have more to lose, and a tougher road ahead of them, than the coaches.

Image found here.