NFL Lockout: A Schedule of What to Expect Next

"When can teams sign free agents?" and "When will official practice start?" That's what everyone wants to know these days.

What to expect once the NFL lockout ends—a damn fine question, and one with many possible answers. As we try to clear the air a bit and shed some light on what to expect if/when the lockout does end, here is our best educated guess at what next week would look like if the lockout ends Sunday.

OK, before you start commenting that the lockout isn't over, we know this. Thank you for the reminder.

We are projecting Sunday as the day it all ends, since players are unlikely to vote today (Friday). The dates in the following slides are all working off of that prediction.

Sunday, July 24

Should the CBA get worked out Saturday, the doors to every NFL locker room would open Sunday morning.

This would obviously be great news, and it would lay the ground work for teams to begin training for the 2011 season. This would largely be a time for coaches and players to reconnect, hand out playbooks and discuss schedules.

At this time NFL teams could begin the following:

• Voluntary player training without pads

Sunday, July 24

The first legal contract negotiations will kick off Sunday, at 12:01am EST, if the lockout were to end Saturday. This would allow teams to immediately begin contacting players currently under contract on their team about re-negotiations.

This does not include unrestricted or restricted free agents. Only players who are re-negotiating an existing contract would be included.

At this time NFL teams could begin the following:

• Negotiate current player contracts

2pm ET Sunday, July 24

The real action begins Sunday at approximately 2pm ET. That's when all NFL teams will be able to negotiate with unrestricted free agents.

Why the 2pm start time? This allows those teams on the west coast to get involved. With a three-hour time difference across the country this sets a reasonable free agency kickoff of 11am for the 49ers, Raiders, Chargers and Seahawks.

Note: Teams could not sign players, only begin negotiations. This is very important.

At this time NFL teams could begin the following:

• Negotiate with all unrestricted free agents

2pm ET Monday, July 25

Not quite as exciting as the opening of the unrestricted free agency period, but very important in its own right. Today NFL teams can start negotiating with undrafted free agents.

This is where Mark Herzlich, Pat Devlin, Kendric Burney and Jeron Johnson all get the phone calls they have been waiting on for three months.

At this time NFL teams could begin the following:

• Negotiate with undrafted free agents

Thursday, July 28

Should the lockout end, Thursday would be an all you can eat buffet of NFL news.

No matter when the lockout ends, you can pencil in five days out as the day all hell breaks lose.

At this time NFL teams could begin the following:

• Teams may sign unrestricted free agents
• Teams may sign restricted free agents to offer sheets
• Teams may complete trades
• Teams must be under $120 million salary cap
• Teams may execute physicals, begin meetings and start conditioning workouts

Friday, July 29

One week from today we could see the beginning of NFL training camps—without pads. This would essentially begin seven-on-seven work and other non-padded position drills.

This date is also significant because it's 44 days before the start of the NFL season. Plenty of time for teams to prepare for the season.

At this time NFL teams could begin the following:

• Teams may begin non-padded training camps

Sunday, July 31

Assuming the lockout ends this Sunday, we would see live football action in just one week. How great is it that in seven days we would see some football?

Once the lockout ends you can put a realistic timeline of seven days until padded training camp opens.

At this time NFL teams could begin the following:

• Teams may begin fully padded training camp

August 11

With the Pro Football Hall of Fame game canceled, the earliest the preseason will begin is Thursday, August 11 on ESPN.

And we cannot freaking wait.