The NFL players union is instructing agents to negotiate contracts as if no new labor deal will be in place during free agency. Gene Upshaw, executive director of the NFL Players Association, finished talks in Indianapolis Friday without an extension to the collective bargaining agreement and sounded pessimistic that a contract can be reached before the March 3 start of the league calendar. If that is the case, he said, it could take a while.
See "Union Rep to Leave Town Without NFL Deal", Associated Press, The New York Times, February 23, 2006