One of the drawbacks to the current labor strife between the NFL and the NFLPA is that we don't have as much free agency chatter as normal. Normally we'd have a whole host of free agency previews for you. However, with the threat of a 2011 NFL Lockout free agency could potentially be delayed or even postponed depending on the length of a hypothetical lockout. However, there is some good news as NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith met yesterday in New York, with more meetings on the horizon.
Given the change in how this offseason might run, we're going to have a fair number of labor updates until the situation is resolved. The two sides will meet for a formal bargaining session this Saturday in Dallas, with several more formal and informal sessions planned for the coming weeks. If we're lucky the PR war is coming to an end and the hard work of negotiating will really kick in. Andrew Brandt of the National Football Post doesn't think the two sides are really all that far apart and a deal can be had sooner rather than later. He has at least a little credibility as a guy who has worked both sides of the equation as an agent and a club contract negotiator.
We won't have updates on every single piece of labor news here at Niners Nation, but we will have newsworthy updates, particularly after the bargaining sessions. In the meantime, SB Nation Bay Area has a running story stream focused on the labor dispute HERE. We're trying to keep this updated as current as possible so you can see how the situation is progressing. If we're lucky it will be a fairly short story stream.