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"FacebookPinterest\n\n Welcome back, NFL.\n\n Over the course of the past 72 hours, the lockout was lifted, a slew of undrafted rookie free agents were signed to new deals, and nearly a quarter of the league's starting quarterback situations were dramatically altered.\n\n Despite league-wide fears that fans would be...turned off by a 132-day work stoppage, ProFootballTalk.com\u2014an elite destination for all things NFL rumors\u2014had its highest day of traffic in the site's history on Tuesday. Twitter nearly blew up from excessive Jay Glazer and Adam Schefter tweets, eight of the top trending items on Google were NFL-related, and no-name free agents\u2014guys like five-year veteran tight end Jeff King\u2014were linked to three different teams online.\n\n Yet, for as crazy as the past three days might have been for NFL fans and media, it's been even wilder for the players and their agents.\n\n To get a look behind the curtain and into the madness, we spoke with player agent David Canter. Canter's client, San Diego Chargers safety Eric Weddle, signed a 5-year, $40 million deal on Wednesday, one of the largest inked by a veteran safety in league history. These were his past 72 hours:\n\n Monday\n\n 11:30 AM: Canter receives an email from the NFLPA outlining the various deal points to the proposed CBA.\n\n 1:08 PM: The NFLPA follows up with a 25-slide PowerPoint deck and a dial-in for a conference call; During the conference call, the NFL Network has Commissioner Roger Goodell and Ecutive Director of the National Football League Players' Association DeMaurice Smith live on-air, announcing the end of the lockout. \n\n 5:25 PM: The NFLPA emails Canter specifics on the Rookie Compensation Pool, detailing an entirely new process for signing NFL rookies\n\n 6:15 PM: He receives a phone call from a team inquiring about an undrafted rookie client. Canter tells team representative,...We can't speak until tomorrow morning at 10 am. The team representative responds by telling him they've been talking to agents about undrafted players since 6 pm. Canter shrugs his shoulders. Wild Wild West.\n\n 6:30 PM- 11:30 PM: Canter takes calls with every NFL team, trying to lock up contracts for three of his undrafted rookie free agents\u2014wide receivers Dontavia Bogan and Joe Hastings, and kicker Wes Byrum. During these calls, he gauges interest in Weddle, his premier client. Of the 32 teams, he gets confirmation from 12 that are...indeed, interested in acquiring the 26-year-old safety. After several conversations, Canter agrees to terms on contracts for Bogan and Hastings, but is unable to secure jobs for his other undrafted free agents.\n\n Tuesday\n\n 1:28 AM: Canter receives an email from Brian Hampton, Director of Football Administration for the San Francisco 49ers, with the terms to Bogan's contract. He agrees. Bogan will be reporting to 49ers training camp.\n\n 1:58 AM: Hampton follows up with an email outlining the terms to Hastings' contract. Hastings will be joining Bogan with a shot to make the Niners.\n\n 2:00 AM- 4:00 AM: Canter ensures all of his veteran clients have flights set up for their physicals in the coming days.\n\n 4:00-6:00 AM: Canter fades in and out of a nap, while checking Twitter and his Blackberry for emails and texts.\n\n 6:15-9:00 AM: Canter...devours the new CBA and all its parameters, while fielding calls and emails from over a dozen NFL teams.\n\n 10:22 AM: Canter receives his first...Weddle e-mail, a request from a Minnesota reporter asking about which teams were interested in his client. Canter confirms that a dozen teams had inquired about Weddle, including the San Diego Chargers.\n\n 12:30 PM: Canter picks his son up from pre-school and grabs lunch at a sub shop, awaiting a call from San Diego's front office.\n\n 12:45 PM: Canter has his first contact with Ed McGuire, Ecutive Vice President of the San Diego Chargers, and it's not all positive. Though Weddle is mentioned, McGuire informs Canter that the Chargers will be terminating the contract of another one of his clients, linebacker Jyles Tucker....It's a major downer.\n\n 1:00 PM-6:00 PM: Canter speaks to several teams about his clients, including Weddle, but there's...radio silence from McGuire and the Chargers. He has a firm number in mind for Weddle and is sharing that figure with teams. Many of them\u2014San Francisco, Carolina, Minnesota, Philadelphia, and Cleveland included\u2014bow out of the sweepstakes.\n\n 6:15 PM: Canter goes on a Houston radio station to discuss Weddle's availability. Minutes later, he hears from the Houston Texans for the first time. They're now in the hunt, too.\n\n 9:24 PM: The Chargers send their first e-mail in regards to Weddle and Canter's not thrilled with their numbers. He goes back and forth with McGuire for the next several hours.\n\n Wednesday\n\n 12:14 AM: Canter and Weddle speak at length and decide to narrow the list of suitors down to two teams. The Chargers are...Team A and the other suitor\u2014an AFC rival\u2014is...Team B. The offers are somewhat similar and the two want to sleep on the decision. They inform San Diego and Team B that they're shutting down the communications for the night and they'll pick things up in the morning.\n\n 1:15 AM: Canter showers and gets into bed with the intention of sleeping, but A Few Good Men is on AMC...but it was the clean version with commercials. Kinda a letdown. He was wide awake. While watching Nicholson and Cruise, he gets a voicemail alert.\n\n 1:35 AM: A front office ecutive from a third AFC team, one that hadn't shown any interest in Weddle up to this point, calls:...We're in the mix. Call us back when you can. We have a...Team C.\n\n 2:00 AM: Canter calls back the ecutive from Team C and shares the salary numbers he's discussing with San Diego and Team B. Team C listens to the numbers and confirms that they're...still in the game.\n\n 2:35 AM: Canter wakes Weddle with a phone call and shares with him the Team C news. They talk for two hours, discussing the pros and cons of Teams A, B, and C. Weddle's wife is nine months pregnant and chiming into the conversation, throughout.\n\n 3:25 AM: Team C's front office ecutive sends Canter a text message that reads,...We can match the numbers. We're in it to win it. He's going to love playing here!\n\n 3:35 AM: Canter calls Weddle again and they agree that letting San Diego know that there's a third team in play is the right thing to do.\n\n 3:40 AM-7:30 AM: Canter stays up all night, simultaneously checking Twitter and analyzing numbers.\n\n 8:00 AM: Canter emails McGuire the following,...I know you're asleep, but I have a third team that's seriously in play that can change these discussions. I'll need your latest proposal soon.\n\n 8:15 AM: Canter sends a text message to check in with Team C and confirm that they're still hot on his client.\n\n 8:35 AM: Team C responds to the text message with,...Working on these big ass numbers! Hopeful! Don't know if I can make the numbers work. I'll be back to you within the hour. Cool?\n\n 9:00 AM: A report on ProFootballTalk.com mentions an erroneous report...confirming that Weddle had agreed to terms with the Jacksonville Jaguars. Canter's Twitter handle, @DavidCanter, is mentioned in the article. \n\n 9:05 AM: Weddle calls Canter, astonished and amazed at all the misinformation circulating online. Canter scans Twitter and sees several different reputable reporters running with the erroneous Jacksonville story. He then begins getting bombarded with Twitter messages from fans of the Texans, Vikings, Cowboys, and Jaguars\u2014all using the hashtag...#signEricWeddle\u2014with reasons why Weddle should sign with their respective teams.\n\n 9:50 AM: Weddle calls Canter, again, amazed at all the media coverage he is getting....Did you have any idea this would get the kind of media attention it's getting? He didn't.\n\n 10:06 AM: The Cincinnati Bengals\u2014another team that had shown no previous interest in Weddle up to this point\u2014call to inquire about the numbers.\n\n 10:30 AM: Canter calls Weddle back and they decide that if the money is the same across the board from San Diego, Team B, and Team C\u2014Weddle is going to re-sign with the Chargers. They begin discussing who they'd choose between Team B and Team C if the Chargers' final offer was significantly less than the two other suitors. No decisions are made.\n\n 11:00 AM: Detroit's salary cap expert calls Canter to discuss the rookie contract for another client, Lions' fifth round pick Doug Hogue.\n\n 11:05 AM: Ed McGuire of the Chargers calls Canter with what he says is a good offer; numbers that are significantly higher than the ones discussed on Tuesday night. Canter requests that McGuire writes the numbers out in an email so he can share with Weddle.\n\n 11:24 AM: Canter sends a text to Team C that reads,...Hey, this is getting done in the next hour. Wanted to check in.\n\n 11:37 AM: Canter calls his contact from Team B's cell phone, a number the ecutive...always, always picks up, and the call goes to voicemail. For as hot as the team was on his client on Tuesday, the sudden silence on Wednesday concerns Canter....They must be out. The numbers could have gotten too high.\n\n 11:45 AM: The ecutive from Team C responds to Canter's earlier text:...Hey, my bad. We can't go as high as we'll have to. We're out. Canter and Weddle cross Team C\u2014a squad that hours earlier were very real possibilities\u2014off their list.\n\n 12:05 PM: Ed McGuire calls with an updated offer and contract proposal from the Chargers. While on the phone, Canter tells McGuire that he'd been arguing with his wife earlier. McGuire, in a moment of levity, asks Canter to put her on the phone:...I think I'd like dealing with her more. Canter's wife gets on the line and says,...Hi Ed. Eric wants $50 million over 5 years. McGuire laughs and responds,...Put your husband back on the phone, please. After a few more minutes, Canter and the Chargers' longtime front office ecutive come to a meeting point on the numbers. They're exactly what the agent and his client were looking for. Canter writes the numbers out on a scrap piece of paper and shakes his head in amazement. The final figures are five years, $40 million, with $19 million guaranteed. His client is due $14 million this year, including a $13 million signing bonus. Canter hangs up the phone and falls to knees in tears....I had my entire company and client list stolen from me in 2001, he says....Eric's stood by me every step of the way since I signed him in 2007. This contract\u2014what it does for him and his wife, what it does for my family...it's incredible.\n\nFacebookPinterest\n\n The details of Eric Weddle's contract structure \n\n 12:30 PM: Canter calls Weddle and shares the good news. They're both emotional.\n\n 1:10 PM: Canter and Weddle get on a conference call with San Diego Chargers owner Dean Spanos, General Manager A.J. Smith, and McGuire. Weddle thanks the only NFL organization he's ever known for showing their faith in him. Canter wraps the call by figuring out the logistics of actually signing the deal on Friday. He hangs up the phone and stares at the scrap piece of paper.\n\n 1:15 PM: Canter's son bursts into the room, back from pre-school, wanting to play.\n\n 1:20 PM: The Seattle Seahawks call Canter and ask about his third undrafted rookie free agent, Wes Byrum, the kicker from Auburn. While he's on the phone with Seattle, Detroit's calling about Hogue.\n\n It never stops."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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