In the ultimate case of 'careful what you wish for,' the NFLPA looks at limiting locker room access

According to a recent story in The Washington Post, the NFL Players Association wants to restrict locker room media access. In advancing the story, ProFootballTalk.com suggested this might be something the players ask for as part of the negotiating process when the league starts to make a strong push for an 18th game.

On both fronts, all I can say to the NFLPA is, “Be careful what you wish for.”

NFL Players Association executive director Lloyd Howell told the Post’s Mark Maske that the players “Do not want to be interviewed when they’re naked” and that he wants to “Open the door for doing some solutioning of what could be more effective.”

First of all, suggesting that the players are interviewed “when they’re naked” is silly hyperbole. Yes, some guys postgame or after practice seem more than willing to talk shirtless right before or right after they shower, but most either do so still in uniform or after they get dressed.

Are players in various states of undress in the room while the media is there? Of course they are. But in 23 years of covering the NFL, I’ve never seen the following exchange transpire:

Reporter X: “Hey, Player X, got a minute to talk?”

Player X: “Yeah, just give me a minute to get dressed.”

Reporter X: “No, I think we’d all prefer to do this while you’re naked.”

Nope. Never seen it. Willing to bet I never will.

However, if Howell is so concerned about this issue that, as Mike Florio opined at PFT, “As the NFL tries to get 18 games, this could be something the union could request,” I’m sure Roger Goodell would bend over backward to make it happen.

Even though the NFL has pushed back against player requests to limit locker room media access in the past (after the coronavirus pandemic passed, for instance), if that topic becomes a chip on the table in the 18-game negotiations, the NFL would gladly acquiesce on that point. It costs the league zero money to say “Yes” on this, whereas an 18th game would bring millions and millions of dollars.

NFL executives are probably laughing out loud right now at the very thought.

Let’s be honest, though. This isn’t about the players being uncomfortable being undressed in front of the media. This is about the players wanting to talk to the media as infrequently as humanly possible.

Naked. Fully clothed. In the locker room. On the field. At a podium. On a street corner. Wherever.

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Although, as is the case with all things when it comes to media relations (sports, politics, government, entertainment), the harder you squeeze, the more sand slips through your fingers.

If the NFLPA thinks the media is too critical as it is right now, imagine how much harsher it’s going to be if media members never have to do a face-to-face, one-on-one interview with a player.

If eliminating any sort of human interaction is taken away from the equation and attempting to build some sort of personal relationships with these players is subtracted from the process, it gets all the easier to treat these guys like two-dimensional characters on a television show and rip them even more when things are going poorly.

The sports figures who rarely talk to the media are the ones who are the easiest for us to assail. Think about it locally. Bob Nutting. Ron Hextall. Barry Bonds. Tom Barrasso.

It would also be harder to really get to know the guys who deserve positive press. The perfect example is Troy Polamlu.

The Hall of Fame Steelers safety was a wonderful person who didn’t like to talk much on the record as a player, especially in his early years. Initially, he wasn’t much of a quote.

Yet, over time as he built a relationship with those that covered him — especially in moments off the record — we all got to see what kind of a human being he was, as well as a player. He has since become one of the most revered and beloved players in Steelers history. That’s not just because of how good he was between the lines but because every media person who covered the guy has a positive Polamalu story to tell.

A lot of those occurred face-to-face when the tape recorders weren’t rolling. I could say the same thing about Cam Heyward, Neil Walker, Sidney Crosby, Marc-Andre Fleury and a dozen more. It’s not the same thing if you talk to these guys once a week at a podium.

But if that’s what the NFLPA wants, so be it. It makes my job easier as a talk show host and columnist. It saves gas money driving over the Hot Metal Bridge three times a week, and I get out of the stadium faster on game day.

Who needs the player perspective after a 24-10 home loss to the Arizona Cardinals. I’ll just draw my own conclusions and let the coach’s quotes stand as to why Player X had such a bad game. I’m sure that’ll go over just fine.

Fans won’t care. Most of them hate “the haters” in the media as it is — strangely, while at the same time consuming everything the media puts out into the ether.

So what’s the difference?

Or fans can just go further down the rabbit hole of state-run media that teams and leagues put out on their own websites or just follow their favorite propaganda feeds on their phones. At this point, a lot of fans can’t (or don’t want to) differentiate anyway.

Indeed, there are other ways to do things without having media members in the locker room while players are changing. Hockey teams have a different room where players change after they talk to the media. A lot of baseball teams do the same thing. They don’t have 48 guys changing in the same room, though.

College football and basketball media relations employees bring players out to a podium or a separate interview area. That’s easy enough at home. But it gets hectic on the road in smaller confines and tighter windows to get out of the stadium.

Plus, the onus would be on the media relations staff of each team to provide all the key players that need to speak instead of just one or two. If the player doesn’t want to come out, or if the media relations reps don’t push to make it happen, that guy may not talk.

Whatever. As a media member, I’m not going to lose any sleep over it. And, as a warning to Howell and the NFLPA, I guarantee that Goodell won’t either.

Enjoy your 18th game, fellas. Hope you walk away with something worthwhile from the bargaining table, because this ain’t it.

But at least you’ll be walking away fully clothed.