Dolphins linebacker Channing Crowder is always good for some interesting comments on the issue of the day in the NFL, and the lockout is no exception. Speaking about some of the young players in the league, Crowder said that they’ve already spent the money they have, or have just enough to get by for a few more months, and won’t be able to make ends meet if they start missing paychecks in September.
“You have the first, second-year guys – they buy a house, they buy a $100,000 car and now they’re broke and they had just enough money to make it to this next season,” Crowder said. “And I know it. I know plenty of guys that are like that and [there are] already guys trying to take loans out.”
Crowder knows first-hand what that’s like: He has said that when he was entering the NFL draft, he started spending big because Mel Kiper projected him as a first-round pick. When Crowder actually went in the third round, he didn’t have the money he thought he would.
Crowder also said fans should expect low-quality football at the start of the season if there are no training camps.
“There’s going to be more injuries [and] it’s going to be real simple football,” Crowder said. “It’s going to mess up the integrity of the game because we’re used to having those [off-season training activities], minicamps, off-season workouts . . . It’s hurting the NFL now and as long as the owners won’t let us go to work it’s going to continue to hurt the game we love.”
