Now that the NFL owners have ratified a proposal that could potentially end the lockout and begin NFL free agency on July 27, the onus is now on the NFLPA to ratify a proposal to make it official. But just because the owners signed off on an agreement, it does not mean that the players will also ratify this agreement, or even be ready to do so at this point. The only way this lockout can officially come to an end is if the union elects to re-certify itself, and from there choose to ratify the same proposal that the owners did.
The NFLPA is expected to have a conference call this evening at 8 p.m. with each of the 32 team representatives. It is believed that a vote to re-certify could come from this call, which would then lead to a potential vote on the final CBA ratification. What's clear is that the NFL lockout is seeing it's final hours, and football fans can look forward to several wild weeks ahead.
For much more on the status of the NFL lockout, head over to SBNation.com's massive StoryStream.