Richard Sherman: There Will Be a Lockout Before Players Extend Current CBA

San Francisco 49ers cornerback Richard Sherman believes there will be a player lockout after the current collective bargaining agreement in the NFL expires following the 2020 season.

John Dickinson of 95.7 The Game in San Francisco shared Sherman's comments. The cornerback—who is the 49ers' player representative—said "It's gonna happen" with a head-turning degree of certainty and pointed out the two sides won't negotiate a new CBA before the one in place runs out.

Lorenzo Reyes of USA Today pointed out players and agents have levied a number of criticisms at the current CBA, which went into place in August 2011 after the last lockout. Some of the critiques from players revolve around the amount of power Commissioner Roger Goodell holds and the lack of guaranteed contracts.

Sherman isn't the only one who thinks it is nearly inevitable there will be some type of work stoppage.

NFL Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith said as much in an August 2017 interview with MMQB (h/t John Breech of CBS Sports). "I think the likelihood of either a strike or a lockout in [2021] is almost a virtual certainty," Smith said.

One of the reasons Sherman was so sure there will be a lockout is because of precedent.

"Because there was a lockout before," Sherman said, via Reyes. "We don't plan on changing anything about the deal we currently have right now, so I don't think it's going to be negotiated before the end of the CBA, so it's going to cause a lockout and we'll deal with it from there."

Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports noted owners locked out the players from March 12, 2011, through July 25, 2011, during the most recent negotiations.

While they ultimately didn't cancel games, free agency was delayed until the start of training camp, and there were no offseason programs.