Ravens unanimously vote to decertify union

September 24, 2010 3:52 PM by Dan Kolko View Comments

The Ravens unanimously voted to decertify the Players Association today during a meeting with NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith, according to cornerback Chris Carr.

Doing so would allow the players more legal recourse in case the owners decide to push for a lockout in 2011. The Ravens are at least the eighth team to vote on decertification.

"Everybody was pretty much all together," said Carr, one of the Ravens' player reps to the union. "Mostly when we go to these meetings, there's not too much disappointment in management. Everybody's together, strong for the cause, and everybody believes in everything we're doing. It was an easy vote."

Carr said that about 40 Ravens players were on hand for today's vote. The meeting began with speeches from Smith (who declined media requests), and Tom Carter, NFLPA regional director. There was then a question and answer session, and then the players voted.

Decertifying allows the players to take legal action against the owners if there is, in fact, a lockout. If the NFLPA remains as-is, the players would not have that option.

"It's one of those things where the owners have kind of been preparing for this, and it's an option on the table, like, hey, we might want to use this as well," Carr said. "Nobody wants a lockout, so we're going to do everything to prevent it."

The Ravens also voted on their player reps for next season. Carr, Derrick Mason and Matt Birk will represent the team assuming there is a 2011 season.

One interesting note to come out of that bit of information is that Carr is not under contract with the Ravens past this year. Mason and Birk both have one year left on their contracts after this season, although it would be a surprise to see Mason return to the team under his current deal.