RON WOLFLEY

NFL prepares for Free Agent Frenzy

Jul 20, 2011, 12:00 AM | Updated: 1:02 am

If all goes well the NFL is on the precipice of a spectacle unlike anything the league has ever seen before: a condensed “free-agent frenzy” that may start on Friday and end next Friday, July 29th. And this forced spectacle may become the NFL’s newest component to dominating the offseason like no other sport in history.

The lockout is going to end and most experts are saying the league-season could begin as early as Friday.

The NFLTA (Trade Association) executive committee and player reps from all 32-teams are meeting in Washington on Wednesday, hoping to vote on a new CBA. Assuming both sides address the unresolved issues beforehand, a player representative confirmed that players will vote on the proposed CBA.

The NFL has sent out a memo to all 32-teams instructing key executives (two from each team) to be in Atlanta for Thursday’s owners meeting. This meeting will give owners the opportunity to ratify an assumed collective bargaining agreement. If 75% of owners vote in favor of the proposed CBA (24 owners), the new league-year will most likely begin on Friday, July 22nd.

If that is the case the best rumor out there deals with free-agency and what might happen on Friday. According to sources, the new league-year will start with a free-agent period, beginning on the 22nd, where teams will have a three-day window to negotiate with their own free-agents. On Monday of next week, July 25th, teams might have until Friday, July 29th, to sign unrestricted free-agents from other teams.

Let the spectacle begin.

News organizations have already tagged this potential free-agent period as a Free Agent Frenzy. Not only does the alliteration work well but the condensed dispensation may work well for the NFL. By complete accident, the Teflon League may have stumbled into greatness.

Imagine a free-agent period where teams are given three-days to negotiate with their own players and four or five-days to court and negotiate with unrestricted free-agents. That would be a week to remember.

The media buzz from this possible Free Agent Frenzy has, is and will be astounding. And not only are the news organizations talking about the chaos looming at the end of the week but fans are talking about the chaos looming at the end of the week in every living room, restaurant, lounge, gas station, church and office in the country.

The question becomes easy: why wouldn’t the NFL do this every year?

The league already dominates their offseason better than any other. The NFL Draft gets ratings that rival other sports’ playoff games. OTA’s and mini-camps are part of the news cycle and now they could add a free-agent period that would dominate a solid week of the offseason.

The Free Agent Frenzy could happen in early March (instead of late July!); it would kickoff the league’s new league-year; it would certainly be sold by the league; it would bring a sense of urgency to an otherwise mundane and insipid time of the NFL offseason; it would make for a great reality series!

With the lockout coming to an apparent close, training camps loom on the horizon…and so does Free Agent Frenzy in the NFL. Episode 1 may begin on Friday.

Episode 2: March 1, 2012.

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