Darrius Heyward-Bey had little reason to be stressed at his Pro Timing Day two years ago. A 4.32 40-yard dash time at the NFL Scouting Combine just weeks earlier had already solidified his draft stock, and he knew he’d have a future somewhere in the coming months.
The Pro Timing Day that Heyward-Bey visited on the campus yesterday, however, had a much different feel to it. As the former Terrapin football wide receiver and current Oakland Raider looked on at the Terp NFL Draft hopefuls before him lifting weights, sprinting furiously and completing a gauntlet of individual drills, an ominous cloud of uncertainty hung overhead. The Terps’ fringe NFL prospects had hopes beyond getting drafted — they just wanted the embattled sports giant to be up and running.
“It’s something you have to think about, but I feel like, $9 billion, you can’t get that fixed,” said former Terp wide receiver Torrey Smith, alluding to the NFL’s annual revenue. “There’s no way. I really just feel like [DeMaurice] Smith is going to do a great job, get it done for us.”
After unresolved disagreements between players and owners on how to craft a new collective bargaining agreement prompted an NFL lockout, the entire status of the 2011 NFL season was thrown into question this month. The developments have been stressful enough for players, who hope to continue playing and earning a regular paycheck.
But it puts prospective draftees such as former Terp linebacker Adrian Moten in an even more unenviable situation. They’ve spent months and months training to get drafted for a league that might not even exist next year.
“It’s kind of like,” Moten wondered aloud yesterday, “‘Why this year?'”
Even as players tried to downplay the significance of the issue, they admitted it was hard not to ponder their shaky future.
“It’s something to think about,” former Terp running back Da’Rel Scott said. “We just got to keep praying, just hopefully there is a season next season. Hopefully, it comes to agreement. I’m pretty sure they will. I feel very positive about it.”
Rather than worry about the labor strife, Moten said he’s turned his attention to improving his own draft stock and drawing the attention of some NFL teams. The key to continued success in the run-up to his possible entry into the league, Moten explained, is not letting worry deter progress.
“You can’t let it stress you out. It is what it is,” Moten said. “The labor thing is just something I’m trying to get into right now, trying to get myself into the league. I can’t stress out over that. That’s something that’s not in my hands right now. I got to let that take place.”
Smith has been projected as a possible first-round pick, while Moten and Scott could be selected in the middle rounds. Other Terps may also be selected later in the draft, but the work stoppage makes it unlikely that undrafted free agents will be able to sign contracts.
“I feel like it’s definitely a tough situation, but at the end of the day, they’ll definitely get another chance,” Smith said. “It’s definitely harder as far as to catch on, being that you can’t really work out right away. I don’t know. I feel like if you have the talent, they’ll find you.”
The disparity between the owners’ and players’ wishes for a new collective bargaining agreement is reportedly in the hundreds of millions of dollars. But for the players who worked out yesterday, they hope that something much simpler than dollars and cents can compel the two sides to reach an agreement and make the 2011 season a reality.
“Hopefully, they realize kids out here still work for that dream to play in the NFL,” Moten said. “Hopefully, they get it situated.”
schneider@umdbk.com
