But we will let you have a press conference...

[Mr. Scot]

...just make sure you don't talk to anybody on the way out of the building :(

Though it widely has been assumed that the rookies enter the pool of locked-out players the moment after they are drafted, NFL spokesman Greg Aiello tells us that the players may be brought to their (eventual) cities of employment for a press conference.

It’s a common practice, with most if not all first-round picks and some later-round players flying to the cities in which they’ll be working for a media meet-and-greet. Given that the rookies are facing subtle-but-real pressure from the veterans and the NFLPA* to not attend the draft if invited, the next question becomes whether the rookies will participate in the introductory press conference at their teams’ facilities, which will end with the teams locking the doors to the facilities behind them.

PFT: For rookies, lockout doesn’t start until the press conference ends

Now, on your way to the press conference, if the coach slips and says anything or if a couple of pages of the playbook happen to fall into your stuff, it's purely an accident :sosp:

[jayflip]

I'm confused now, because just because we draft them, theyre not under contract yet until we sign them? I'm lost. We should be able to talk to them all we want until we sign them, right? Or are their rights belonging to the Panthers, so we can't talk to them after the draft. What grey area does this fall into?!?

[jayflip]

Jesus my grammar is atrocious. On iPhone at work so sorry

[Mr. Scot]

There's usually a bit of a "grey area' that allows them to come to minicamps and such between the time they're drafted and the time they actually sign a contract.

This year, sadly, it's a tad shorter.