FanHouse Roundtable: Twitter Still Threatening NFLPA Unity?

American football historians will certainly note one of the 2010 NFL season's most inflammatory developments -- high-profile athletes with a quick iPhone trigger. One specific area that has over the past month made coaches queasy, players angry and owners probably delighted is the Twitter battlefield.

We asked FanHouse NFL writers John Oehser, Andy Kent, Barry Barnes, Dennis Georgatos, John Hickey and Ray Glier for their take on this phenomenon.

Will the NFLPA cool off on attacking each other on Twitter this offseason, and how can coaches and agents possibly police this further?

Glier: Freedom of speech doesn't need policing. I think it's great the players want to get their emotions out on the table. The lack of transparency is what's keeping a deal from being done. The owners say they have been upfront about their expenses; the players don't believe it.

Fans are paying attention to Twitter. This is a chance for the players to drive home their point that they are getting seriously injured working year round at this game. I want to see a Tweet from a player to owners that says, "Why should we give back the great deal we got in the last agreement? You signed it. Live with it."

Kent: Based on the joint statement released by the NFLPA and the owners following Sunday's two-hour meeting in Dallas, it is clear to this writer that everyone involved is fully aware of the seriousness of the situation. To that end, cooler heads should prevail and the players will likely adhere to the promise made by DeMaurice Smith to no longer argue their case in public. Coaches will keep a hands-off approach and agents like Drew Rosenhaus already are taking to Twitter acting as a mouthpiece instead of the players.

Georgatos: We know for one that Jaguars running back Maurice Jones-Drew will think twice before taking to Twitter and suggesting another player is soft, as was the case with his off-the-cuff criticisms of injured Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler. Jones-Drew's Twitter remarks went viral on the Internet after he indicated he would have found a way to keep playing rather than retreat to the sideline.

Cutler left the Bears' playoff game with what was later diagnosed as a partially torn medial collateral ligament. We also found out later that the Bears medical staff made the call to take him out of the game against eventual Super Bowl champion Green Bay over Cutler's objections. Bears GM Jerry Angelo lashed back at player criticisms of Cutler, wondering out loud what kind of union they belonged to that would even tolerate one union guy tearing down another.

The lesson for Jones-Drew -- and really he and every player should know better -- is to hold off on the cutting remarks when it comes to questioning injuries. Football is a violent game. People get hurt all the time and the person suffering the injury is the one feeling the pain and the medical staff examining it knows the extent of it. Take them at their word.

Oehser: The players almost certainly will cease attacking each other during the offseason -- if only because the NFLPA will do whatever it can to promote solidarity during the work stoppage -- if there is one. As for coaches policing, it's not likely. The NFL isn't a player's league in the vein of the NBA, but if players want to tweet, they're gonna -- whether coaches like it or not.

Barnes: I believe after Saturday's meeting between the owners and the NFLPA, the players will stop blasting each other on twitter until a new CBA is in place. For players, Twitter has been like playing with a mouse trap. Twitter is for social networking and if it's not used properly, the trap will snap on one's finger.

Now since the players of the NFL realize that tweeting against one another can harm their chances of avoiding a lockout because of their lack of support among each other as a union, they won't be tempted to play with the snap-trap anymore during this process. The only way coaches and agents can police the players for using Twitter improperly is by fining them an insane amount of money.

Hickey: If the NFLPA had the muscle that Major League Baseball Players Association has, they'd be able to get almost everybody to play nice, regardless of personal feelings. I'm just not sure that the NFLPA has the kind of clout in that area with its membership that the MLBPA does. Sniping seems inevitable.