NFL Lockout: New "Plan" Gives Football a Chance to Resume Next Week

We could have football as early as next weekend according to a report from ESPN.

John Clayton and Chris Mortensen contributed to a report that states:

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NFL owners and players have tentatively agreed to a plan that would allow for the players' executive committee to vote on Monday to recommend accepting the CBA and recertifying as a union, a source said Saturday.

Under the plan, players would begin reporting to training camps as early as Wednesday to physically vote on whether to recertify, with the hope that it will be done by Friday at the earliest, the source said.

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Obviously any progress is good progress at this point, but this "plan" is a brilliant idea for two reasons.

One, in order for the players' union to recertify, they have to get the players to all sign documents, and with the players scattered across the country in different locations, there is no telling how long that process could take.

Two, once voted on, the players will already be in the places they need to be, assuming they report.

The NFLPA needs a 51 percent majority vote to recertify and accept the terms of the new CBA.

When the executive committee recommends the players to accept the deal it would then trigger the buffer to begin on Wednesday, two days after the recommendation, and then teams would be allowed to negotiate with their own restricted free agents and players.

"Certain" players and teams would be allowed to report to camp on Wednesday with the remaining teams and players reporting on Friday. 

If all continues to go as the plan outlines, free agency would then begin July 30th, next Saturday, according to the report.

This is another major step in what has been a battle of inches between the two sides. 

But for the first time since Thursday, when the owners slipped in their "agreed" CBA and almost derailed the negotiation, there is a new hope that football will be back with the next week.

If agreed upon, the CBA would put the NFL in motion for the next 10 years.