Report: NFLPA 'Exploring' Collusion Charges Against NFL Owners

When the NFL entered the uncapped year, some thought owners like Jerry Jones of the Cowboys and Daniel Snyder of the Redskins would go crazy spending millions upon millions of dollars. Even with a salary cap they had shown a willingness to spend more than anyone else.

More than three months into the uncapped year and that hasn't happened. In fact, spending is down significantly.

And the NFLPA wants answers, according to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. Collusion, of course, is illegal. It's essentially a way to limit competition (i.e. free agency) via secretive means between two or more teams (or all the teams in the NFL's case).

The NFLPA has been consulting with agents to gain more knowledge as to whether a case should be filed.

Per Florio, one piece of evidence would be the letters teams have been sending to restricted free agents alerting them that their tender level was going to be reduced on June 15. The letter is not required anywhere in the CBA and, according to several agents, the text of the letter is somewhat uniform suggesting collaboration by the owners.

Florio also passes along that the rumor mill says some owners didn't spend aggressively out of fear of being "dressed down" at the league meetings in March and May.