ESPN NFL insider John Clayton said Friday the majority of the drama surrounding the NFL labor talks is just theatrics and the players have presented a fair counteroffer to the owners.

Clayton joined Sports 620 KTAR’s Doug and Wolf Friday to discuss the labor talks and said the players’ most recent offer included a 50-50 split in revenue.

However, Clayton said the owners would like to take $2 billion off the top of the league’s revenue instead of $1 billion for stadium costs, taking the players’ earnings from 50.6 percent down to around 42 percent.

Clayton said the players’ offer was great and may offer encouragement that the union is willing to be flexible in negotiations.

“To me that offers encouragement, if the owners don’t want to get a deal, then it’s on them,” Clayton said. “The movement that was made by the players was very positive and I think can push things over by next week; if the owners want to make a counteroffer then I think this thing can go in a very positive direction.”

Clayton said he believes the two sides could reach an agreement by March 15th but said the owners will have to make moves of their own instead of relying on the players to come up with the new system.

“[The owners] wanted something from the players, the players came up with something that was very basic, wasn’t going to sell, but still was a very well thought out counteroffer,” Clayton said. “Bravo to the players, they’ve made the moves, now the ball is in the owners courts.”

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