Most of the players whose contracts will expire whenever the 2011 league year begins can be signed to new contracts before the current labor deal expires. Few teams are filling the pockets of potential free agents with cash, ostensibly due to uncertainty regarding the next set of rules that will apply to paying players.
The fact that the lack of a signing bonus to stuff in the mattress will make it harder for the players to withstand a lockout is, at a minimum, a secondary benefit.
Not every team has closed the valve on the money faucet. Jason LaCanfora of NFL Network reports that the Ravens are on the verge of signing kicker Billy Cundiff to a long-term deal. Per LaCanfora, the agreement is expected to be finalized this week.
Cundiff, who beat out Shayne Graham for the kicking gig in 2010, made 26 of 29 field goals, an 89.7-percent success rate.
Signed for seven games in 2009 after Steven Hauschka didn’t work out as the replacement for original Raven Matt Stover, Cundiff also has kicked for the Browns, Saints, and Cowboys. He was out of the NFL in 2007 and 2008.