No shortage of candidates for head coaching job.

The Raiders are casting a wide net in their search to replace Hue Jackson. New GM Reggie McKenzie will interview two Broncos offensive coordinator Mike McCoy and defensive coordinator Dennis Allen today in Denver. McKenzie already interviewed Miami interim head coach Todd Bowles, and has permission to speak with New Orleans Saints offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael Jr. 

Raiders owner Mark Davis introduced new general manager Reggie McKenzie.

Mark Davis: Three months ago, on October 8, 2011, at 3:00 a.m., I received a phone call from Dr. General Hilliard that my father had passed away. It was a sad day for the Raider Nation and all the players, coaches and fans that have worn the famed Silver and Black over the past 48 years. I had two immediate goals – one short-term, one long-term. My short-term goal was to make sure that the season continued with as little disruption as possible and to achieve our goal of reaching the playoffs and winning the Super Bowl. In that regard, I asked John Madden to join me in a meeting with Coach Jackson where we discussed the optimum working relationship between the coach and myself. My short-term goal went great for about five days, then Jason Campbell broke his right clavicle in the game. The following week, we lost Darren McFadden to a foot injury, which unknowingly at the time turned out to be a season-ending injury. At one point in the season, we were 7-4 and two games ahead in the division and then we lost four of the next five games to finish 8-8 and out of the playoffs. To say the least, it was certainly a disappointment. My long-term goal was to research and identify a general manager to lead the Raider organization into the future. I consulted with Ron Wolf to help me identify potential candidates, one of which was Reggie McKenzie. Unfortunately, league rules prohibited us from contacting any current employees of other National Football League teams until the end of the regular season. So for three months, I did extensive research into all the potential candidates for the job. But early on, I recognized that Reggie McKenzie was the man I was looking for to lead the Raiders into the future. On January 1^st, the shackles were off and we were finally able to ask the Green Bay Packers for permission to interview Reggie McKenzie to become general manager of the Oakland Raiders. On January 2^nd, the Green Bay Packers graciously granted that permission. I called Reggie, we spoke briefly, and made arrangements for him to fly in for an interview. We met with John Madden for about six hours and reached an agreement that Reggie would become the general manager of the Oakland Raiders. After the meeting, I texted Reggie that my father used to say, ‘The greatness of the Raiders is in its future.’ Reggie, the future is now. Ladies and gentlemen, Reggie McKenzie.

As lawyers for the NFL and the players met into the night on Tuesday in New York, it appeared as if the league's lockout was entering its final stages.

According to several media sources, legal staff for both sides are trying to finalize an agreement so it can be presented to the Players' Association executive committee on Wednesday.
 

The NFL Network reports the committee will present the proposal to the 32 player representatives. They will vote whether or not to recommend the proposal to the Brady plaintiffs.

If an agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement is reached Wednesday, owners could ratify the deal when they meet Thursday in Atlanta.

When the players decertified their union, a lawsuit, led by Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Drew Brees, ensued against the league.

The NFL Network reported one of the proposed settlements has Manning and Brees being immune from the franchise tag for the rest of their careers.

Brees took to Twitter to respond.

"I hesitate to even dignify the false media reports with a response, but obviously they are leading people astray," Brees said.

San Diego Chargers wide receiver Vincent Jackson and New England Patriots guard Logan Mankins reportedly demanded to either be free agents or get $10 million as compensation for being plaintiffs in the case. Both players currently have the franchise tag designation.

A new CBA needs to be reached soon if the preseason is to start on time August 7 when the Chicago Bears and St. Louis Rams play the Hall of Fame Game in Canton, Ohio. The start of training camps, scheduled to begin the end of this week, will likely be delayed.

A source told the NFL Network that the plan was to have some training camps open a day late, but the others on time. The network reported attorney Michael Hausfeld led a group of retired players into negotiations Tuesday. Sources told the network that between $900 million and $1 billion in improvements have been negotiated for retirees.

The lockout, of course, began on March 12 after the sides failed to reach an agreement on how to split about $9 billion in revenue, among other issues like a rookie wage scale, the salary cap and retirement benefits.

In the four months since, they have battled each other in courts and during negotiating sessions.

By Mark Maske, The Washington Post

The NFL and its locked-out players are making a negotiating push that appears to be aimed at trying to complete a deal on a new labor agreement by early July.

Neither side has commented on the specifics of the talks publicly, but people on both sides of the dispute said this week that a concerted attempt is underway to reach a compromise in coming weeks that would ensure an uninterrupted training camp, preseason and regular season.

The tone of the negotiations is greatly improved, both sides said, and while the talks still could break down, there is guarded optimism that a deal can be reached in late June or early July, according to people who are not involved in the talks but have knowledge of them. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the deliberations.

Negotiators for the two sides met this week in New York after several days of talks last week in Chicago. On Wednesday, the NFL and NFL Players Association issued a joint statement that “they continue to be engaged in confidential discussions” with their mediator, Chief Magistrate Judge Arthur J. Boylan of the federal court in Minnesota, and that “discussions are expected to continue.”

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a conference call Wednesday with Tampa Bay Buccaneers season ticket holders that “both sides are working hard to reach an agreement” and that the ongoing talks are “a positive step for everybody.”

Goodell, according to an NFL spokesman, repeated that the league intends to play a full 2011 season. “I believe both sides want to find solutions,” he said. “I’m hopeful we’re going to be successful.”

Goodell was joined by five owners — the New York Giants’ John Mara, the Kansas City Chiefs’ Clark Hunt, the New England Patriots’ Robert Kraft, the Carolina Panthers’ Jerry Richardson and the San Diego Chargers’ Dean Spanos — at this week’s talks. Players Kevin Mawae, Jeff Saturday, Mike Vrabel, Tony Richardson and Domonique Foxworth joined DeMaurice Smith, the executive director of the dissolved players’ union.

“At the end of the day, there is too much at stake to miss a season,” said sports law expert Gary Roberts, dean of the law school at Indiana University. “There is enough revenue. . . . The parties can work out a deal that can make both sides, while not gleeful, at least satisfied. That’s why I’m confident a deal will get done at some point.”

The players have been locked out by NFL owners since March 12 in a standoff that centers primarily on how to divide the more than $9 billion in annual revenue generated by pro football. One person who did not participate in the talks but has knowledge of them said the willingness to complete a deal has increased and, because of that, the negotiating differences between the two sides can be overcome. Others said the timing is right and the proper people now are involved in the discussions.

One person said the benefits of recently excluding lawyers from the talks may be overstated. But others said that development has helped reduce the level of acrimony.

Also, they said, the courtroom phase of the dispute has largely played itself out, with the NFL achieving some victories in a federal appellate court, which has indicated that the league is likely to prevail in its bid to keep the lockout in place.

Mainly, people in the sport said, both sides are realizing that time is running short, with many players unsigned for the upcoming season and the normal opening of training camps less than two months away.

Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay said last month that a deal would have to be reached by about July 4 to allow time for a free agent signing period before a full training camp, preseason and regular season. Teams have been prohibited from signing free agents and trading players during the lockout. Most teams normally open training camps by early August.

A later deal could mean an abbreviated free agency period and a truncated training camp and preseason, with the regular season starting on time. But others view early July as a deadline of sorts, believing that if there isn’t a deal by then, it could indicate differences so great that the start of the regular season is in peril.

Roberts said he doesn’t share that opinion. He said a deal is most likely in August, after a ruling by the appeals court on the legality of the lockout. But he said that “both sides could hedge their bets” by completing a deal sooner, before the appellate court moves the negotiating leverage one way or the other.

“It’s all driven on both sides by the internal politics,” Roberts said Wednesday. “Both sides [initially] staked out rather rigid positions. As we get closer and closer to missing football games, I think the voices of reason will win out over the extremist voices and there will be a deal done.”

Strong sentiment remains that if the NFL and players can settle the central financial issue, the other elements of a deal would fall into place.

Before talks collapsed on March 11, the two sides were trying to agree on an annual salary cap figure for the NFL’s 32 teams. The two sides were about $10 million apart on that issue, or about $320 million league-wide for the first year of a collective bargaining agreement.

But to resolve the core economic issue, the league and players also would have to agree to a split of any future revenue that exceeds projections, a highly divisive issue during the March talks. In addition, any deal would have to address the NFL’s desire to avoid ongoing court oversight of the sport’s labor situation and the league’s proposal to blood test players for human growth hormone. The two sides also would have to find a mutually agreeable rookie pay system.

The talks have buoyed hopes for a deal. Agent Drew Rosenhaus wrote last week on Twitter: “It is nice to see the optimism back regarding a new CBA! Great [to] see both sides negotiating again — things are heading in the right direction.”

Written by Dave Campbell