The NFL Lockout is Over: What it Means to This Broncos, Draft, and Football Fan

The NFL Lockout began back in March with seemingly no hope and no end in sight. While my optimism as a fan is always brimming, it was a very dark and telling time for me as a huge supporter of this league and this game. My attitude towards everything NFL became very sarcastic and negative, and for the first time in a long time, I stopped caring about when the lockout would end or where I would be, or exactly what had to be done in order for that to be accomplished.

Even the NFL Draft was partly ruined because of the NFL lockout. The players being drafted had about 36 hours to get a playbook and meet their coaches, and they had to know that they weren’t going to be getting to have any rookie mini-camps, and they wouldn’t be able to meet their new teammates. One of the most disappointing things also was the nixing of signing undrafted free agents. As a fan of the NFL draft, you like to see where some of the guys who slipped through the cracks land in free agency, but this year we missed out on that.

In fact, we as NFL fans missed out on free agency all together. When we were supposed to be setting up at our laptops and around our TV’s in early March for free agent madness, we were forced to the daily norm, no NFL to whet our palettes.

Through this NFL lockout, we have experienced hatred at times for the NFL owners, players, NFLPA, certain lawyers, certain reporters who seem to only bring bad news, as well as commissioner Goodell himself. This hatred may not have been warranted, but this lockout was really one of the most trying times for NFL fans, who were left completely in the dark.

Never once did the NFL or NFLPA think about the best deal for the fans, the people who make this business a $9 billion per year industry. Never once were we as fans asked how the CBA could be made better, and more often than not, we were shut out by DeMaurice Smith, Goodell, and the other legal reps for both sides in terms of getting well-deserved updates.

The only thing fans ever got was an occasional e-mail campaigning for the players, or something like that. It really has been a straight kick in the pants to the fans of the NFL, but the players and owners don’t have to care because it’s not like we won’t come screaming back when the lockout is finally lifted. Simply a hint of free agency or trade rumors get fans pumped up, and watching highlight reels has become like a drug–giving a temporary high but then an ultimate low when we as fans realize that the lockout was still in place.

With the lockout now over, we fans can enjoy football again. We can eagerly await training camp, free agency in March, the draft with all of its benefits and even more, and especially, the games. With the lockout over, there are now going to be a lot more trades at the top of the draft with new rules implemented on the guaranteed money of rookies. We could now see big name teams making moves to get into the top five of the draft because money is no longer an issue.

Now that the lockout is finally over, we as fans can finally focus on the game again, and not the ugly truth that exists off the field and on the business side of everything, a side we will be glad to never see again unless we’re buying tickets to a game.

So a big “No thanks” to the owners and NFLPA, who made this one of the most miserable summers to be an NFL fan ever, but a big hoo-rah for finally getting the deal done. We are not thankful that a deal is done, because that should be expected. We are thankful for your dedication to the game, and look forward to another fantastic season of NFL football.