Lions LB Devon Kennard Explains Why He Voted Yes on League's CBA Proposal

Against the backdrop of the Scouting Combine and the run up to the NFL Draft, all eyes among players, owners, and insiders around the league remain on the ongoing discussions concerning the adoption of a new collective bargaining agreement. And while we've heard numerous rejections of the latest CBA proposal from the league and its owners -- which notably includes a 17th regular season game -- we now have one player on the record voicing his support for it.

On Twitter Wednesday night, Detroit Lions linebacker Devon Kennard submitted a carefully reasoned case for the NFL Players Union to adopt the admittedly imperfect proposal.

Whether his case will ultimately prevail among his fellow players or not, Kennard frames the 17-game debate properly here: what would you, as a unionized NFL laborer, hypothetically need to receive in return for approving elongating the season in this way?

Naturally, money makes the world go 'round. An extra game check and an increased minimum salary across the board helps both big-time earners and marginal roster guys alike. Combined with a marginal increase in the players' overall share of league revenue (though the owners are still proposing to take more than 50% for themselves!), there's a case to be made for the NFLPA to declare a certain type of victory and move forward.

Kennard, a six-year veteran out of USC, won't sway everyone with this argument. Far from it, in fact. But amid a sea of refutations of the current CBA proposal among high-profile players, his case in the affirmative stands out and is worth noting.