Rumor: Teams can sign own players beginning today

[Double34Trouble28]

Mike and Mike just got this breaking news. John Clayton coming on now.

[Double34Trouble28]

Training camp dates to be staggered to give teams exact same amount of time before each team's first preseason game.

Can begin negotiating with unrestricted FAs this afternoon as well.

Can sign UFA tomorrow at noon, won't become official until Aug 2

[Proudiddy]

I was about to post something similar as well...

Watching NFLN and despite what many reports have been putting out there, Heath Evans said according to Drew Brees:

*"Free Agency" opens tomorrow, but the REAL UFA begins Friday...

*He said beginning tomorrow you can sign with the "GM you're accustomed to."

*Then Friday you can sign with any team

What does this mean? That there IS an exclusive 3-day window for the team you played with the previous year to negotiate with you...

That being said, it would make sense that teams can begin negotiating with their own FAs today, but I don't know that they would be able to sign them until tomorrow from all I've heard. Then again, who knows...

[Double34Trouble28]

Gah, its all happening so fast.

[cdandi1]

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/6799301/nfl-transactions-start-monday-source-says

The expected NFL free-agent frenzy may begin as soon as Monday afternoon if the NFL Players Association signs off on a timeline being discussed, a source at the highest level told ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter.

According to the projected timeline, the new league year would officially start on Aug. 2 at 4 p.m. ET.

Before that:

• Teams can sign their own free agents and begin talking with other unrestricted free agents Monday afternoon.

• Teams can begin signing unrestricted free agents Tuesday at noon ET but those contracts would not take effect until Aug. 2.

• Teams can begin talking trades Monday afternoon. Any trades would become official on Saturday, July 30.

Players would begin to report to their teams on a staggered scheduled. Another league source said it was unclear what teams would be allowed to do between the opening of camps and Aug. 2, when the league year officially begins.

According to the proposed timeline, 10 teams would report on Wednesday, 10 more on Thursday and 10 additional teams on Friday. The New York Jets and Houston Texans would be the last two teams to report, on Sunday.

The report dates would be back-timed to 14 days before teams play their first preseason games.

The NFL Players Association and the league's owners reached agreement on the remaining points needed in their 10-year labor deal this past weekend, sources from both sides said.

The NFLPA is making plans for a major press conference Monday. The NFLPA executive committee will begin meeting at 11 a.m. ET on Monday.

Following that, a recommendation has to be made by the 32 player representatives, likely via conference call. As of late Saturday night, no time had been set for that vote, but it is expected to occur Monday after the executive committee votes to recommend approval, according to the high-ranking official.

Despite the fact the new agreement will require a majority vote from the players, that part of the deal between the two sides is considered a formality, according to sources.

The executive committee is also expected to vote to recommend recertifying itself as a union, according to the source. A recommendation also has to be made by the 32 player representatives on that count.

Major breakthroughs in Saturday discussions set up the timetable for the resolution to the 130-day lockout.

Adam Schefter is ESPN's NFL Insider.

[Double34Trouble28]

JR4P, Thanks for that. I had no way of remembering it all because I just heard it on the radio.