The Al Jazeera 4 caved. But "caved" is probably too strong. The NFL left them one reasonable choice, which means they really had no choice. They're all talking to NFL investigators, even James Harrison.
The only other choice the NFL gave them was, in the players’ minds, unreasonable: losing games, losing money, losing a chunk of their limited careers that, as no one should ever forget, can end at any time on one play.
The NFL knows this. The NFL exploits this. And the players, once again, showed that they’re not willing to sacrifice that for a principle — no matter how noble it is, and no matter how right they are.