(PhatzRadio / USA Today) — Throughout this preseason there has been a plethora of complaints from NFL players regarding the use of replacement officials — and rightfully so.

Mostly the players have griped about the refs being flag happy and not knowing the rules, but nothing about safety.

Enter NFL Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith who, in an extensive interview with Sports Illustrated’s Jim Trotter, didn’t rule out the possibility of a strike out of concern for player safety.

“In America it is the employer’s obligation to provide as safe a working environment as possible,” Smith said in an interview published Tuesday. “We believe that if the National Football League fails in that obligation we reserve the right to seek any relief that we believe is appropriate.

“The NFL has chosen to prevent the very officials that they have trained, championed and cultivated for decades to be on the field to protect players and — by their own admission — further our goal of enhanced safety. That is absurd on its face.”

How can you disagree with that? You can’t!

Smith even identified “three fundamental facts that are inescapable” to support his view point.

“One, the players and the league have made tremendous strides in trying to make the game safer over the last three years,” Smith said. “The second fact is, at the players’ urging, the National Football League last year gave the referees more power to spot and deal with a concussed or injured player. The third inescapable fact is, over the last 20 years the league has done everything to maintain an experienced referee corps.”

This certainly highlights just how hypocritical the league is being. Make no mistake about that. But are we really to believe players would forfeit game checks over this issue?

Unlikely. Then again, anything is possible.