D-Brick working as a cashier at GNC during lockout

[visajets]

Jets D'Brickashaw Ferguson promoting sports drinks in lockout-induced downtime

Published: Tuesday, May 31, 2011, 8:16 PM Updated: Tuesday, May 31, 2011, 8:27 PM

By Jenny Vrentas/The Star-Ledger The Star-Ledger

John O'Boyle / The Star-LedgerJets D'Brickashaw Ferguson said the players want to get back on the field -- but only if their needs are being met.

On 57th Street in Manhattan Tuesday, D’Brickashaw Ferguson towered over a cash register at a GNC store, recommending and ringing up Gatorade purchases for a line of customers.

During a break, the Jets left tackle noted that he has experience in the field: years of work as a 7-Eleven cashier while growing up on Long Island.

Ferguson is not picking up another job during the current NFL work stoppage — this was an appearance to promote Gatorade’s G Series PRO line — but he admitted it’s a change during a time of year usually spent in organized team activities and mini-camps.

“It’s a little different,” Ferguson said with a laugh. “But this is a fun event.”

Ferguson is trying to be patient as players weather the lockout, imposed by owners on March 12. Friday is a key date — oral arguments will be heard in St. Louis for the NFL’s appeal of a district court’s injunction to lift the lockout — but Ferguson also has seen many dates come and go this spring.

“It always seems that we have a series of big dates that come up,” Ferguson said.

“Either way, we’ll just have to deal with those results. Everybody wants to come back and play, but we don’t want to come back and play if it means that we’re not going to have the things we know are important to us.

“We’ll just keep waiting and, hopefully, when we do come back ... it will be good for both sides.”

Ferguson’s focus is trying to stay in the best possible shape. He said the offensive linemen may convene for workouts and meetings as a unit, but haven’t worked out the details.

They may wait to see if there is any more clarity in the labor dispute after the next upcoming stage.

On NFL Network last week, quarterback Mark Sanchez said he’d like to organize full-team workouts in June, if the lockout persists that long.

Asked if he saw a benefit or feasibility in player-run group sessions, Ferguson said he wasn’t sure.

“It’s hard to tell,” Ferguson said. “I think the benefit is to go back and work. But you’ve just got to wait it out now and see the direction that it takes, because there’s no real clear-cut answer.”

Another key upcoming date is receiver Braylon Edwards’ driving while intoxicated trial in late July, in which Edwards’ attorney indicated he may call more than a dozen witnesses, including Jets teammates with Edwards that night.

Ferguson was a passenger in Edwards’ car when Edwards was arrested last September, but Ferguson said he has not yet been notified if he will be involved in the trial nor has he received a subpoena.

“Obviously, I was involved in that situation,” Ferguson said, “but we’ll see what happens and my involvement in the future.”

NFLPA: The NFL Players Association will stage a two-day educational program for rookies at the end of June.

One week after the league canceled its annual rookie symposium because of the owners’ lockout of the players, the NFLPA has set up what it calls “The Business of Football, Rookie Edition” for Washington on June 28-29.

Every drafted rookie, all 254 of them, is invited.

“We’re doing this because it’s the right thing to do,” NFLPA spokesman George Atallah said.

The forum will cover financial education and planning, proper behavior on and off the field, and other information to prepare rookies for a future in the NFL.

Because of the lockout, those draftees can have no communication with the teams that selected them in April.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.