NFLPA President and Hall of Fame guard Gene Upshaw has passed away from pancreatic cancer at the age of 63. This is a shocking and sad development, and the impact of Upshaw?s untimely passing could very well change the way the NFL does business. I always admired Upshaw even though I frequently disagreed with his methods and positions. Because he was a legendary player, he had credibility at the negotiating table. Ownership certainly often hated his positions, but they always knew that Upshaw acted for the good of the game. He was smart enough to see the forest from the trees, unlike his counterparts at the NBA and NHL player unions. For such a physically imposing man, Upshaw understood the value of compromising in good faith and extending a hand to an opponent in need of help. His intelligence and foresight in areas such as player marketing deals, licensing, negotiating a viable salary cap, and free agency have laid the fundamental foundation for the product we all enjoy today. Upshaw?s playing career ended before my football cognizance really kicked in (he last played in 1981, when I was 9), but I do recall the Raiders Super Bowl victory over the Eagles and how the Eagles defenders all had dirty pants and the Raiders linemen were all clean. Upshaw was the leader of that fearsome group and had been for a long time. Every kid who played line at that time had to have the exposed neck roll pad, just like Upshaw. It speaks volumes that Upshaw was the first man who exclusively played guard elected to the Hall of Fame, and he was inducted in his first year of eligibility (he spent the 82 season on IR). Every year in scouting circles, every prominent guard prospect inevitably gets compared by the old-school scouts to Gene Upshaw--can he pull like Upshaw, can he find guys in space the way Gene Upshaw did, does he have Upshaw?s nastiness and relentlessness? That?s a tremendous honor and respect for a guy who hasn?t played in nearly 30 years. It?s premature to ascertain just how Upshaw?s passing will impact the upcoming Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiations, but you can bet it will have significant bearing. Upshaw fiercely defended the fiduciary rights of his players, fighting for every crumb of the giant revenue pie. But because he had credibility and respected presence with ownership, he was able to glean more crumbs than the owners wanted to surrender. To me, one of the things that demonstrates just how shrewd and effective Upshaw was in negotiations is that both ownership and the players found fault with what he did. That might sound crazy, but compare the relationship between the NFLPA and ownership with Congress. The NFL is in great shape and has made those tough choices and compromises, while Congress has become an incomprehensibly acrimonious, largely dysfunctional bastion of waste and ineffectiveness. It takes someone who can handle both sides of the table and who isn?t afraid to sheath the partisan knife if only to get the other side to do the same to make that happen, and Upshaw was that man for pro football. There isn?t another man who can do what he has done in terms of handling the demands of both sides, who can fiercely defend his side while simultaneously get his charges to swallow some bad medicine for the overall health of the game. Upshaw didn?t always make the best decisions (the lack of health care and support for retirees, the sham of the franchise tag) and rankled a lot of feathers along the way, but so much of what makes the NFL the greatest game and most successful pro sports league in the world stems from what Gene Upshaw helped accomplish. He will not be easily replaced, and if the NFLPA can?t find anyone who can come close quickly, the game we all love could change for the dramatically worse very soon. I?ll reserve writing about the upcoming CBA battle until the shock of Upshaw?s death wears off, but I can tell you there will likely be a fundamental change in how the deal turns out. RIP Gene Upshaw, one of the most significant figures in pro sports over the last 30 years and one of the all-time great NFL players. Jeff.Risdon@RealGM.com