Yahoo! Sports is reporting that the NFL lockout is likely to end on Monday, citing sources who say that the NFLPA will meet Monday and will likely vote to accept the new deal.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and Players' Association executive director DeMaurice Smith were said to have settled their last remaining issues, according to ESPN's Chris Mortensen.
According to the Yahoo! article by Jason Cole:
"In keeping with the proposal the league laid out on Thursday night, the NFL is also expected to work out a three-day window for teams to sign their draft picks and re-sign veteran free agents who were on their team last year, although the contracts wouldn’t be official until the NFLPA became a union again. In addition, teams will be able to talk to all veteran free agents and undrafted rookies, though deals could not be struck until after the aforementioned three-day window."
Tempers had flared earlier in the weekend over how owners handled negotiations in the home-stretch, but those tempers have cooled. There was talk for a while that the players would hold off long enough to force the league to have to cancel the first regular week or more of preseason games.
But you know what folks? Even with assurances, and metaphorical thumbs-up -- let's wait and see if this will indeed be the end of this long wait to get football season under way.
Even if it is too late for Canton to have a game this season.