Judge Susan Richard Nelson released an 89-page ruling on Monday that lifted the NFL lockout. The immediate result of the ruling was mass confusion over what happens next, and even a day later there is still a lot of confusion over what all of this means. Players have been advised by the NFLPA to show up to work, and teams have been instructed to let players in, but not to their weight rooms.
↵The NFL owners' next move is to request a stay from Judge Nelson. If she denies it, then the owners will request a stay from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. If both requests are denied, then the lockout will be over and questions about when free agency will begin and what the rules are will intensify. That process will play itself out in the coming days.
↵For now, players are left wondering if they should show up for workouts at their team facilities like everything is normal. Some guys may be planning to do that, but Detroit Lions players representative Kyle Vanden Bosch advised his teammates to hold off on doing anything just yet.
↵↵↵"I don’t want to put the players or the team in a situation that we don’t want to be in," Vanden Bosch said. "I don’t want to tell guys to go and find out that we really can’t workout there. I’m just kind of telling everybody to, at least for tomorrow, do what you were going to do until I get more information about what we can and can’t do. Just kind of hold tight a little bit."
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Aside from the mass confusion, part of the reason this situation is so chaotic is because the NFL Draft begins on Thursday. If the lockout does in fact disappear and free agency opens just as the NFL Draft is starting, we could be in for quite the ride later this week. Things would really get crazy with free agency and the draft beginning at the same time.