One thing that has happened however is that the NFL has found a way to shut the yap of Carolina Panthers owner Jerry Richardson.  At least publicly.

There is an accepted media black0ut as talks continue and that means no knowledge of what is going on behind those closed doors in Washington.  So if Jerry R. is making more people on the side of the players feel like little children we won’t know about it.

Richardson is serving on the leagues board of negotiators and is considered to be a stubborn SOB who will not give in to what the NFLPA wants.  As ProFootballTalk mentioned last week, he got screwed when he was a player, he’ll be damned if he will get screwed as an owner.

With the talks continuing now for more than 20 hours, everyone from the players, to the media, to the team employees, coaches, and fans all await the emergence of anyone associated with these talks to come out and say something outside of “we have agreed to not talk about it” or the announcement of a new CBA.  The latter of which will spell out the season ahead.

If the owners and the NFLPA can not agree to a new CBA this week, then the season itself may come into question as neither side will likely head back to the bargaining table until June or possibly July.  Some speculate that barring an agreement here, that the sides may stay apart until Labor Day.  Litigation may be the only leg that the players will have to stand on as the owners fully are expected to lockout the players on March 4th.

The year was 2001 and Carruth had been a Panther for 3 seasons after being selected in the first round of the 97 draft.  His girlfriend was pregnant and his mind shipped out of port long enough to hire someone to kill her.  He was later found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder, discharging a fireram into occupied property and using an instrument with intent to destroy an unborn child.

For his troubles, he got 18 to 24 years.  He succeeded in having his girlfriend die, but his son, now 11 survived.  It was horrific instance that shocked the Carolina Panthers family, fans, and the NFL in general.  For most, the sentence was simply too short.

Today, Carruth tried to get an appeal hearing based on testimony taken from his late girlfriend.  According to the report, Carruth wanted an appeal because her testimony was admitted in his trial.  Before she died at the hospital she was able to dial 911, tell the cops Carruth was involved, nod to answer a question from a police officer at the hospital saying that he was involved, and wrote a dying note to the police implicating Carruth in her murder.

The request for appeal was denied and the denying appeals court stated “an extremely powerful first-hand account of the crime by the victim herself.”

Carruth as stated on PFT is scheduled to be released in 2018.