The new union head has led a contingent to Capitol Hill, asking lawmakers to examine owners' profits.

NFL leaders reportedly have begun face-to-face meetings with teams to discuss the rules of an uncapped year.

On both sides, posturing and preparations have begun for the possibilities of a 2010 season without a salary cap and a work stoppage in 2011 -- the impact of which would be felt by almost everyone involved.

But that doesn't mean the average player is losing much sleep over the issue.

"I don't think so," one Green Bay Packers veteran said recently when asked whether players care about the labor situation.

"It's out of our hands. We've just got to play football, and that's what we're here to do."

The player said that's part of the message DeMaurice Smith delivered when he visited Lambeau Field shortly after being elected executive director of the NFL Players Association in March.

It was one of a series of visits Smith made around the league this spring to introduce himself and explain the union's position on the labor situation -- most notable, a desire for NFL owners to expose their finances. Since 2006, players have received 60 percent of total revenues; owners have expressed interest in scaling back that figure, claiming a decline in profits, but the 31 privately held teams have declined to substantiate that claim by opening their books.

According to the player, the rest of Smith's message was "letting us know that it's out of our control, (that) all we can do is just come to work every day and just give it our best."

Though more than half the team attended the Green Bay meeting, there were empty chairs in the room.

One veteran who skipped the meeting said players are concerned only to the extent that "no one wants the golden goose to go away."

Veteran cornerback Al Harris is the Packers' union representative; he was voted in as the alternate last year behind tackle Mark Tauscher, who wasn't re-signed as a free agent.

Rob Davis, the Packers' primary or alternate representative for eight years before his retirement last year, now is on the opposite side of the issue as the team's director of player development. But he doesn't sense much has changed in players' attitudes toward labor issues.

"The players have always been, just play ball and whatever is there is what's there," Davis said. "This league has been around a long time, and not all 1,800 players feel like they have that strong of a voice -- that's why you vote in strong representation, as far as your reps.

"At the same time, a lot of people are making great salaries in this league, and I'm sure they don't want a work stoppage."

It's just not something they're going to worry much about unless the paychecks stop coming.

-- Information from a variety of sources was used in this report. E-mail assistant sports editor Tom Pelissero at tpelisse@greenbaypressgazette.com

By the numbers

* 24-12 -- Combined records last season for teams starting rookie QBs -- Atlanta (Matt Ryan) and Baltimore (Joe Flacco). Both teams made the playoffs; the Ravens reached the AFC championship game.

* 3 -- Teams that have a QB competition involving a rookie this year -- Detroit (No. 1 pick Matthew Stafford vs. Daunte Culpepper), the New York Jets (No. 5 pick Mark Sanchez vs. Kellen Clemens) and Tampa Bay (No. 17 pick Josh Freeman vs. Byron Leftwich and Luke McCown).