Why doesn't Kevin Mawae have an NFL gig?

Veteran center Kevin Mawae raised the question of whether his role as NFL Players Association president is preventing him from gaining employment again as an NFL player.

Is collusion at work or are teams simply hesitant to commit to a 39-year-old lineman?

Mawae has been to eight Pro Bowls and is still playing at a high level, so he's puzzled by the lack of offers.

"I am unemployed and hoping someone will call," Mawae said during a radion interview with104.5 in Nashville. "It's kind of befuddling to me that I just came off my eighth Pro Bowl and a 16-game season and I can't get one phone call. Alan Faneca gets cut two days ago and yesterday he signs a contract with another team. And not to take anything away from him, we have the same agent, we're friends.

"But something tells me that there is something going on beside me just being 39 years old. I've said in the past that I hope our management and the owners can look past the fact that I am president of the PA. But right now it's not looking that way. I'm looking for a job. I've made no secrets about wanting to be back here in Tennessee and I've yet to receive a call from anybody."

Mawae was hoping he could land with the Denver Broncos, but they loaded up on the offensive line during the draft.

"I look on the rosters and I know there are teams that are hurt and struggling on the offensive line and yet I still haven't got a call," Mawae said. "Part of me wants to say, yeah, I think my position with the union is a problem for a lot of management people. But at the end of the day I would hope they'd be able to overlook that for making the team better

"It's a position that I chose and one that I accepted and I knew going into it that this could be the case. If that is, then so be it. Because ultimately my goal is to help the other players in the NFL make the right decision to do what's best for them, and if I lose my job because of that, then it is what it is and I can move forward knowing that I can do my best."

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