At 10 a.m. Tuesday, more than four months' worth of frustration and inactivity will explode. That's the moment the National Football League will fly into action.
With the NFL Players Association agreeing to a settlement today (the first step toward a new collective bargaining agreement), the owners lifted their lockout and league activity will begin.
At 10 a.m., the Detroit Lions will welcome their veterans into the team practice facility for voluntary workouts and also begin work on upgrading their 2011 team. Training camp will open on Thursday.
"We're excited to be back in operation and we're excited to welcome our players back,'' Lions president Tom Lewand said today.
At 10 a.m. Tuesday, the Lions will be allowed to sign their drafted rookies, restructure current contracts and also sign any undrafted free agents. In addition, the Lions can begin negotiating with unrestricted free agents, but can't officially sign them until 6 p.m. Friday.
The situation presents the possibility that a player could agree to terms with one team but then back out to sign with another.
"We've had those kinds of experiences in the rookie free agent market, it happens fairly frequently,'' Lewand said. "They're on the phone with a lot of different clubs, it's a robust situation. At the end of the day, it sorts itself out.''
The Lions are in the market for linebackers and cornerbacks, but there's no telling how active the Lions might be. Lewand, general manager Martin Mayhew and head coach Jim Schwartz have operated under the philosophy that a solid team is built through the draft with just a few holes plugged by free agents.
"We've got a plan that we have laid out for quite some time now, about how we want to build this team and that was a philosophy that we communicated to you a couple of years ago,'' Lewand said. "That philosophy is shared by Martin and Jim and myself and we're going to stick to that philosophy about how you build the nucleus of a team and how we have built the nucleus of this team. We'll add some players to the roster who can help us in areas of need and, obviously, there are still some of those areas where we want to add guys and we'll be strategic in doing that.''
The Lions are going to welcome back a lot of familiar faces on Tuesday, but they realize a lot of time has elapsed since the last time they saw most of them back in January. After meetings and a conditioning test on Thursday, the Lions will hit the practice field for the first time on Friday with just light practices the first two days.
"It's a good opportunity for us to ascertain where we are physically,'' Lewand said. "We have every reason to believe, given the makeup of our team, that guys for the most part are going to be in great shape. We're going to have to be ready to expect the unexpected and see some things that we didn't anticipate when it comes to some guys' physical condition and injuries that might have cropped up that we didn't know about during the course of the off-season. We'll be prepared for those things as well.''
For instance, it was reported that left tackle Jeff Backus suffered a minor chest injury earlier this month. Lewand would not discuss any information he has about Backus; the Lions' policy is not to discuss injuries.
Overall, whether it's the new rules for the cap, free agency or practice, Lewand said the Lions have to be prepared for everything.
"Obviously, things are a little different this year.'' Lewand said. "I shouldn't say a little, they're significantly different and I think the mantra for the next few days is to expect the unexpected and be tremendously comfortable with being uncomfortable. Anybody who can do those things and learn the rules quickly and adapt quickly will be at a competitively advantageous position.''Source: http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/2011/07/detroit_lions_plan_for_moving.html
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