Matt Stover Leading Push to Oust Gene Upshaw

Of all the tough guys in the NFL, who would have thought the Ravens' mild-mannered veteran kicker Matt Stover would lead the push to oust NFLPA boss Gene Upshaw? According to ESPN's Chris Mortensen, 17-year vet Stover, the Ravens' player representative, circulated an e-mail among the other 31 player representatives containing a plan to remove Upshaw prior to the 2009 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) expiration. The NFL CBA is the contract that controls the labor relationship between the owners and players, including the salary cap, revenue sharing, drug testing, the Commissioner's powers, and virtually every other aspect of the game from a business standpoint.

According to Upshaw, there were indications that some players felt he needed to go at the player meetings in Maui this past March. When Upshaw supporter Titans C Kevin Mawae won the NFLPA presidency over Eagles S Brian Dawkins, it was thought that the movement was quashed. This move by Stover indicates that perhaps a majority of player representatives feel differently than the players as a whole, but the story doesn't end there. Troy Vincent, the previous NFLPA president but now ineligible since, well, he isn't a player is a close friend of Dawkins. Vincent apparently wants Upshaw's job, and that may have led a block of players, who dislike Upshaw but don't like Vincent as the replacement, to settle on Mawae.

Denver CB Dominique Foxworth, a 2005 graduate of the University of Maryland, is a vocal supporter of Stover's plan, noting that it only provides the players with options. Foxworth was named Denver's player representative this year. It should also be noted that Foxworth has a very nice mother, and he was a fine customer of D.P. Dough in College Park.

Read a copy of Stover's letter here.