The 24-hour extension the NFL owners and the players union agreed to on Thursday may already be paying dividends. According to Sports Illustrated's Peter King, sources inform him that "serious, significant progress has been made on CBA issues." However, whatever had changed is still "fragile." This is far and away a better message than the one fans have received over the last several weeks. From a lockout being almost certain, it's now possible that a new deal could be reached relatively soon.
Adam Schefter also reports that an unnamed source sees things as far better than before, but still proceeds with caution over the negotiations.
Yahoo! Sports' Michael Silver has an excellent article on what is going on with these negotiations and believes that both sides may agree on a longer extension to reach a new CBA. If so, that would likely mean both sides will reach an agreement in a couple of weeks.