The NFL lockout has meant a lot of things for a lot of different folks.
For coaches, it means an inability to have contact with players; for established players, it means being literally “locked out” of team facilities, left to their own devices to prepare for a season that may or may not happen. For players like Troy Bergeron, though, the lockout means an absence of a sorely needed steady paycheck.
Bergeron is a veteran of the Arena League circuit who spent time with the Atlanta Falcons and Buffalo Bills in the NFL, before signing onto the Cowboys’ practice squad for the last three games of the 2010 season. He was re-signed in January, but that contract was voided when the lockout went into effect.
A husband and father of two, with another on the way, Bergeron didn’t have time to wait for a labor agreement, and returned to the Arena ranks shortly after the league locked out last month.
"I'm just trying to make a living," Bergeron told the Times-Picayune, per the Dallas Morning News. "I don't have time for this lockout thing to get settled; I have bills to pay."
Since rejoining the Arena League, Bergeron has drawn a good deal of media interest both for his on-field exploits--he has 22 catches for 372 yards and 13 touchdowns in three games--and his history, which tells a different side of the labor story than that of “rich players versus richer owners.”
"I didn't think it would be a big deal at all," Bergeron said. "I'm just a little guy in the NFL. Nobody knows my name. Players like me on the cusp, trying to get our big break, we have to make money in the offseason any way we can. Who knows what's going to happen with the lockout."
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