Veterans who crossed the picket line, 1987 NFL strike

Football players, with the shortest career expectancy of any professional athletes, are reluctant to strike because they have more to lose and less time to make it up. They also feel less compunction about breaking a strike before returning to work, since they can be replaced by other players who are willing to work.

— Paul D. Staudohar, California State University business professor,
excerpted from his 1986 book, The Sports Industry and Collective Bargaining.

30 years ago today, two weeks into the 1987 season, NFL players went on strike. A 1982 strike resulted in eight weeks of no football and a settlement that resolved little; this time, the owners attempted to break the union’s ranks by bringing in strikebreaking replacements to play the scheduled games. Twelve days later, after a canceled Week 3, the season resumed.

A handful of veteran players never went on strike and played in the Week 4 games (notably, this delayed the start of Suge Knight’s NFL career); others crossed the picket lines in the next two weeks before the unsuccessful strike ended and the regulars returned for Week 7.

Those veterans — players who appeared on a 45-man roster in Weeks 1 or 2 of the 1987 season — who played in Week 4 through 6 are listed below:

played, dressed, but did not play

No veterans crossing picket line: Chicago Bears, Minnesota Vikings, Philadelphia Eagles, Washington Redskins.