The NFL and NFL Players Association are continuing dialogue on resetting the league's calendar, as the league tries to achieve its stated goal of establishing a year-long continuum, sources on both sides said Wednesday.
The league recently sent a proposal to the union that would call for the NFL Scouting Combine to be held at the beginning of March, the start of free agency to occur at the beginning of April and the draft to happen in May. The NFL would use its regional combines as a ramp-up to the Indianapolis combine, with pro days happening after that and leading into the beginning of free agency.
The union discussed the proposal at its rep meeting earlier this month in the Bahamas and plans to respond to the league soon on the ideas, according to an NFLPA source. The biggest issue the union and its players have with the calendar, according to the source, is the idea of free agency being backed up further in the year, leaving those players in limbo for longer.
Players and agents already have expressed dissatisfaction with the recent change pushing the beginning of the league year from late February or early March into mid-March, particularly after the new negotiating window implemented this year didn't produce desired results as the market fell flat.
A league source acknowledged the NFL wants these changes for business reasons but said it would take into account any problems potentially caused on the football side by the shifting.
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