The NFL owners and players reps met again yesterday but there seems to be a little more buzz with these talks than the others. There are a lot of little signs that could mean we are very near an end to the lockout. First up Both sides brought the lawyers back to the table after the past two rounds were lawyer free. Why would they all of a sudden bring back the law guys? Maybe they are writing an official CBA and want to get the legal terms right. Next up all the owners had a scheduled meeting next week, which normally only takes a few hours but a memo went out telling the owners to plan on staying overnight. Why will this meeting be so lengthy? Maybe they have a CBA to vote on.

Now these two signs could be a coincidence and mean nothing to ending the lockout but add them to the fact that training camp is about one month away and we see why there is more hope than ever. Even if we have a CBA written and a vote by the owners next week that doesn’t guarantee an end to the lockout.  We still need all parties to agree on the deal and then figure out how this shortened free agency period will work. Remember a player can’t report to camp until he is under contract, I don’t see a too many if any of the draft picks agreeing to terms in under a month. I’m sure we will see a couple special rules go into place for this offseason and that will have to be agreed on before any players can go back to work.

Either way this is a great sign that both sides are meeting every week. Hopefully this means an end to one of the most stressful yet boring offseason in history.