According to this report from ESPN.com, the new 10-year Collective Bargaining Agreement that was certified by the players earlier this evening includes proposed HGH testing by the league. This would be a huge step in performance enhancement prevention. Most of the previous steroid policies were laughable because the majority of the cheaters had long moved on to HGH.
The NFL will be the first major U.S. professional sports league to use blood testing for HGH.
The exact HGH testing procedures still are to be determined in the coming weeks in continued discussions between the league and NFLPA.
With the agreement, every team including the Cowboys can now practice with players that agreed to new deals this offseason. Doug Free, Kyle Kosier, Marcus Spears, Kenyon Coleman, Jason Hatcher, Abe Elam and Gerald Sensabaugh come on down! Obviously our camp update tracker shows that practice has already started and the 2011 Cowboys are officially a team again.
The CBA continues Roger Goodell's ability to unilaterally decide on player discipline matters, the last known point of contention in the negotiations. Adam Scheffter reports that players will have the ability to appeal certain rulings to an independent arbitrator.
So far, no reports of the salary cap fairy waving her wand over the Dallas Cowboys massive amount of 2012 dead cap money. I'm to the point of checking the internet for True Blood rumors to see if Jerry Jones is making a guest appearance.