NFL Lockout: The Light at the End of the Lockout Tunnel Is Brighter Than Ever

Like a movie scene where all hope looks lost, the hand of fate has come down to save us from falling off the edge of sanity.

Sources at ESPN (namely Adam Schefter) are reporting the NFL team owners and the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) have reached an agreement on the remaining points needed in their 10-year labor deal.

The players still have to vote on the deal, but that concept is considered a sure thing by many inside the situation.

The official news will be announced Monday. The players are flying in on Sunday to vote Monday, and the NFLPA has scheduled a press conference for Monday as well.

The popular belief is that once the players ratify the deal, training camps and free agency are likely to begin the same day. Teams would have three days to re-sign their free agents, then unrestricted free agency would start for the entire league.

One of the biggest reasons for the assurance of a deal has been the growing relationship between NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and their willingness to make a deal happen.

According to ESPN, the schedule might look like this:

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"Under that scenario, teams could potentially open contract talks with their own unrestricted free agents, restricted free agents and draft choices Wednesday. However, no contracts could be signed until Saturday at the earliest. In that scenario, teams would also be able to renegotiate contracts with players from their own team starting as early as Wednesday. Upon recertification of the union, free agency could start Saturday at 2 p.m. ET, and rosters would be allowed to expand to 90 players. It is still uncertain when teams would be able to sign undrafted free agents."

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Ladies and gentlemen, this might be the end of the road for the lockout talk and the beginning of all the hardcore trade and free agency banter.

Oh, how the months of legal jargon have worn on my psyche, but an occasional Kevin Kolb to the Arizona Cardinals trade rumor or a Nnamdi Asomugha rumor to the Jets free agency rumor brings me back from the edge of sanity.

Now that the rumors will become realities, teams will start to separate themselves from the pack, and the championship picture will start to look much clearer.

The rush of free agency talk and trade rumors will be like nothing the NFL has ever seen, and the hype around the NFL could come back even harder than it left off. While fans of the league have missed nothing yet, the talk of the lockout has made many fans yearn for the sport.

Don’t pout anymore, because it looks like the sky is clearing up, and the NFL season sun is ready to shine.

Check back for more on the NFL world as it comes, and check out Bleacher Report’s Football Page to get your fill of the NFL.