NFL owners and players still talking with federal mediator

The talks between NFL owners and players convened again on Friday morning in Washington, D.C., with a small sliver of optimism permeating the discussions. According to several reports on Friday, the two sides are angling for a longer extension so they can continue talking before the deadline for the 24-hour extension is up at midnight on Friday.

“If we can make the kind of progress that you needed to make to have a further extension, that’s where we’d be looking,” NFL lead negotiator Jeff Pash told reporters before heading in to meet with federal mediator George Cohen. “Hopefully, we can make some progress and keep this thing going. That’s obviously in everybody’s interest. It’s been our goal all along and we’re going to just keep at it.”

ESPN reported late Thursday that Cohen had persuaded both sides to agree on a seven- to ten-day extension of the talks.)

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and several league executives arrived at Cohen’s offices in the morning, while NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith and Kansas City guard Brian Waters showed up about two hours later. Each side had been expected to meet separately with Cohen before any negotiations would be held.