Now that the veil of secrecy has been lifted from the CBA negotiations, we can find out what happened behind closed doors. According to NFLPA rep Jeff Saturday, things changed when lawyers left the room.
“The big shift came when owners and players began to negotiate by ourselves,” Saturday told NFL Network. “You really began to see men’s personalities and what they believe in. Robert Kraft was instrumental in getting this deal done. ... Each and every one of us understood what he was going through.”
Kraft was emotional when Saturday embraced him and thanked him publicly earlier Monday. Earlier, he was the one speaker to apologize to NFL fans.
“First of all I’d like, on behalf of both sides, to apologize to the fans that for the last five, six months we’ve been talking about the business of football and not what goes on on the field,” Kraft said.
He also singled out Saturday and Dominique Foxworth as providing leadership throughout the process.
UPDATE: Here’s video of Saturday’s moment with Kraft.