With the new CBA deadline set to expire on Friday, NFL lockout news has begun to trickle out of talks between the NFL and the NFLPA. Among the leaks are reports that the two sides have made some compromises on the rookie salary scale, which is good news for Sam Bradford and bad news for Andrew Luck, and that the sides have not compromised on the owners' desire to expand the season to 18 games, which would be bad news for a player base that's also being harangued to take a pay cut.
The rookie stuff is encouraging, as that's one of the ways in which the NFL's salary structure has long seemed the most out-of-balance. But so long as the NFL expects to get additional games out of a player's association that doesn't have guaranteed contracts I'm worried about the two sides' ability to make deep, only vaguely satisfying compromises. Until the 16-game season is back on the table for the NFLPA I'm not sure they'll come to an agreement.