The latest news and updates on the NFL lockout is this:
This damn thing is almost over.
Yep, the lockout is very, very close to ending (have we said that before?). The owners and players worked into early Monday morning finalizing details so that the players can vote on the proposal today.
If (or when) that vote goes through, we'll have football back.
The first order of business, once we get football back, will be free agency and training camp.
For free agency, that could be Tuesday, or a day later in the week, depending on who you ask. Jay Glazer of FOXSports.com reports the league year could open on Tuesday with full free agency starting next weekend and Drew Brees wrote in an email to his teammates that free agency could start at noon on Tuesday. I think the most likely scenario is a soft start to free agency early this week where teams can sign their own free agents and rookies, and full free agency in a few days.
[Update: Mark Maske of the Washington Post has it this way: On Tuesday, teams can sign their own guys (rookies, free agents, restricted free agents, etc) and begin talking to other free agents. On Friday, full free agency begins.]
For training camp, it's looking like most teams will report starting on Thursday and continuing through the weekend. Brees' email noted that the owners wanted an on-time start to camp and Glazer reports 10 teams will start camp on Thursday, 10 teams on Friday and the remaining 12 teams on Saturday.
So....free agency training camp this week? Yeah, it looks like it's gonna happen.