Report: Still A Week To Go Before Training Camp

All indications are that we're going to see an end to the lockout as soon as today, in which case I'm going to be scrambling to catch up for the next two weeks as a torrent of actual NFL news comes roaring down the pike. Heck, I'm going to be happy for the news.

What is interesting is that Mike Freeman at CBS Sports, who has been basically on top of this lockout junk since the beginning, is reporting that there's going to be a delay between the ratification of the new CBA and training camp. The official start to the league year is five days after an agreement, he writes, and training camp can't start until seven days later.

The impact of this particular delay is fairly obvious. Free agency can't open until Saturday—assuming the CBA is ratified today—which gives teams an impossibly small window to make cuts, sign players and put everything together before the start of pre-season, which is August 11.

Even better, training camp can't start until Monday. That would give teams about ten days to get everyone up to speed and ready to go for what most certainly will be the lamest slate of pre-season games ever.

In short, the post lockout period is going to be a mess. Expect to see teams moving with unprecedented speed to get ready for a season that's not all that far away. The impact of that should be interesting to watch.

What do you think that impact will be?