U.S. District Judge Susan Nelson ended the lockout with Monday’s ruling that it was causing NFL players “irreparable harm” to their careers.
Technically, players were allowed back into their respective teams’ facilities beginning Tuesday morning. But players representatives of the currently dissolved union advised their teammates to hold off on going back until details of the judge’s decision could be sorted out and until she has the chance to rule on the stay the league is seeking to maintain the lockout.
The advisories from the player reps didn’t stop every player, however. One or a few players showed up at facilities Tuesday morning across the country, only to be greeted cordially by coaches and staff and informed that the weight rooms were not accessible to them because no workouts were allowed unsupervised.
That made for some quick and probably awkward visits to either pick up mail, some equipment for off-site workouts or just say hi to reporters. Some teams’ facilities remained empty. And some teams, apparently, changed the access codes just get into the buildings. Or maybe players just forgot the codes, having been away for so long.