NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith took a break from negotiations today to appear on The Jarrett Payton Show on www.chicagolandsportsradio.com. He's also on Twitter at @paytonsun.

Here's what Smith said: "There is nothing that I would like more for us to be unified in standing together but its times like this were the measure becomes how strong are the players. Are the players going to hang together? Do they players of today have respect and love for the players who played this game before? Do the players today believe and understand the sacrifices of the players who came before us?"

Payton, the son of the late Walter Payton, was in D.C. yesterday, speaking at Capitol Hill and also visited the NFLPA headquarters.