Cimini: How the lates Labor ruling Affects the Jets

[flgreen]

The latest labor ruling, how it affects Jets

April, 28, 2011

Apr 28

2:24

PM ET

By Rich Cimini

On Thursday, the NFL, getting slapped around by its players and the courts, reluctantly announced that off-season business will resume Friday. By that, it means that players that show up to team facilities will actually be allowed to work out, receive treatment, talk to coaches and receive playbooks. In other words, they get to be players again.

On Friday, the league will announce the date for the start of the new league year, which means trades, free agency and other transactions.

Quick thoughts on how Thursday's news will affect the Jets:

• D'Brickashaw Ferguson is one happy dude. He has a league-high $750,000 workout bonus and, unless the league wins its appeal and has the lockout restored (unlikely), the Jets' Pro Bowl left tackle will be able to work out and collect his money without any hitches. Bryan Thomas ($500,000), Mike DeVito ($350,000) and Bart Scott ($250,000) also have significant workout bonuses.

• Camp Jets West II may have to wait. QB Mark Sanchez has been planning for weeks to hold a quasi-minicamp for skill-position players at his old high school in Mission Viejo, Calf., starting next week, but that could be put on hold. He held a similar camp last July, but that was mostly for his benefit, as he was coming off knee surgery. This time, the plan was to keep players sharp during the work stoppage. Sanchez put a lot of work into it, too, including prep work for classroom sessions, arranging for cold tubs after practice, planning social events ... stuff like that.

• Second-year players such as CB Kyle Wilson,OT Vladimir Ducasse and RB Joe McKnight will benefit immensely. These are talented, but raw players that need to be working out at the facility and interacting with their coaches, soaking up as much as they can because they're being counted on heavily in 2011.

• It will help players like WR Jerricho Cotchery (back) and RG Brandon Moore (hip), both of whom had off-season surgery. Instead of receiving physical therapy at private rehab centers in New Jersey, they can return to the Jets, rehabbing under the supervision of the team's training staff.

• Friday's announcement will be huge for the Jets in terms of free agency. If the 2010 work rules are kept in place, there will be positives and negatives for the Jets. Free agents such as WR Santonio Holmes, CB Antonio Cromartie and WR/KR Brad Smith would be deemed restricted, not unrestricted, almost guaranteeing at least one more season with the Jets. On the downside, if the "Final Eight" and "Final Four" rules are used again, the Jets wouldn't be able to sign a free agent until they lost one. Shades of last offseason.