ESPN is reporting this morning that owners and players "reached agreement on the remaining points needed in their 10-year labor deal" and that the majority vote needed by players to ratify the 10-year collective bargaining agreement is considered "a formality."
If ESPN's Adam Schefter is right player reps will vote Monday to recommend accepting the agreement, effectively ending the lockout. Players from some teams could then start reporting to team facilities on Wednesday and full-fledged free agency could begin on Saturday.
A few days ago Andrew Brandt of the National Football Post laid out the major terms of the new CBA. These still hold, so if you really want to know all the nitty-gritty give this a read.
NFP is also reporting this morning that it expects to see some NFL training camps open by Wednesday, Aug. 3.
Hooray! We are finally moving toward being able to talk about real football stuff -- free-agent signings, practice reports, etc., -- instead of all this legal mumbo jumbo. It's about time.