After it was announced that the NFL and the NFLPA agreed to extend the Collective Bargaining Agreement for 24 hours on Thursday, the details regarding whether the rules of the CBA would remain the same during the extension were unknown.
Now, we know of one major change - no player transactions will be allowed to take place. According to ESPN, NFL spokesman Greg Aiello told the network that at 11:59 PM (EST) tonight the league year will be over in terms of player moves. Teams will not be able to cut, re-sign or sign new players until there is a new CBA. The ESPN report also stated that teams are free to negotiate with its own players, but signings are prohibited.
Following the eight hours of negotiations on Thursday before federal mediator George Cohen in Washington D.C., the NFL released the following statement.
"Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service Director George Cohen has announced that the NFL and NFL Players Association have agreed to extend the expiration of the CBA for 24 hours and continue negotiating under the direction of Mr. Cohen. The CBA now is scheduled to expire on Friday night at midnight. The agreement by both sides to refrain from comment on the negotiations remains in place."
Both ESPN and NFL Network report that the 24-hour extension could provide the two sides enough time to work out the details of a longer extension.
-- Posted by Chris McPherson, 9:40 p.m., March 3
