So here is the basic version of what happened yesterday. Judge Nelson ruled the lockout is causing irreparable harm so she says the lockout is over. Now as expected the owners almost immediately filed an appeal but here’s where things get complicated. Right now the lockout is over, the owners want the appeals court to first rule to keep the lockout in place while Judge Nelson’s ruling is heard, then the owners want the appeals court to override Judge Nelson’s original ruling. Confused yet? Imagine how the GM’s and coaches feel.

This opens the door for a lot of possibilities. We could hear today or tomorrow what the appeals court plans to do about the lockout. If they say the lockout stays for now until they hear the official appeal, then we are back to square one. But if they say the lockout is over, we have a big mess in the NFL. The owners would be forced to restart operations, that means trades free agency and you won’t see the Jag’s hogging all the equipment in your local gym. What adds to all the confusion is that the draft is just a few short days away; I would be willing to bet every team is getting trades ready to go in the event it’s an 11^th hour ruling on Thursday.

The reason this sounds so confusing is that we really are still in a holding pattern even though the lockout is technically over. Everything is on the table at the moment and we will have a better picture of what’s going down when the appeals court makes its ruling. So basically what you should take away from this whole situation is it is a step in the right direction but we still have a long way to go.