Nothing is set in stone as far as a final ruling, but this certainly doesn’t look good for the NFLPA. We thought here all along that the odds were in favor of the league in this appeal, but it looks now as if all signs are pointing to the court ruling in favor of the NFL when they pass judgement in three weeks. There are some who believe that this is actually good for the fans, because they believe it will force the players to give in to certain demands in negotiations. While I want nothing more than this whole issue to be resolved, I feel for the players, and I think they are getting screwed in this whole deal. I’m on their side, but I have a strong feeling that they aren’t goi

Pretty much, the deal is that Judge Nelson ruled in favor of the players and, by court order, lifted the lockout placed on those players by the league. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean business as usual, at least at this point. The league will file an appeal, and they will also ask for a stay in lifting the lockout, with their argument being that opening the doors before a final decision made on the appeal will cause “an undue hardship for the league” if they have to close the doors again after appeal.

So, while the lockout is technically lifted, don’t expect any player movement or anything else of significance to go down in the coming days. There’s a chance that free agency/trading could be back by the draft, but that will only be the case if the league can’t get a stay from the courts. It would be great if we could have player movement back before Thursday, but I wouldn’t hold my breath. My guess is that the league will get their stay, and frankly I believe that the league will win their appeal as well. We aren’t out of the woods yet. In fact, we might not even be close.