The Way I Understand It (Deal by Tonight)

[Aqua4ever04]

I vowed back in March that I wouldn't get involved in all this court, lawyers and CBA drama. However, the past two weeks I've been working as hard on PFT and other sources as I am at my actual job trying to get a figure for this whole thing. So...

After a very frustrating two weeks of ups and downs in negotiations, here's how I understand it to be.

We're being told that the only remaining issue is that each side wants to lift the lockout, but the owners want the players to recertify before the lockout is actually lifted. (This means they need the players to turn in their recertification cards just like they did when the decertified.) And the players are asking the owners if they can do it when they report to camp.

The risk for the owners would be that a player getting hurt without beind under union is liable to sue the team and the NFL. However, a simple answer is to simply lock an individual player out from even putting his pads on before he turns in his recertification card. It's like a permission slip to practice.

It's that simple.

If it gets done tonight, it helps the players meet with their new staff and teammates, it helps the pending free agents get their situations figured out, it helps the owners accelerate the process of all the functions they will be dealing with in the next few days, and it helps the coaches and G.M.s do their's as well.

And, of course, it gets all us fans stoked that we aren't missing ANYTHING in terms of what happens on the field.

With all that said, there is NO REASON that a deal shouldn't be done before we go to sleep tonight.

[dbatesman]

Thanks for all your hard work. It's clearly paid off.

[Aqua4ever04]

Thanks for all your hard work. It's clearly paid off.

You're welcome, douchebag.

@Chriswarcraft

[dbatesman]

You're welcome, douchebag.

@Chriswarcraft

@abevigoda