The NFL lockout may be a thing of the past, but its lingering effects will greatly shape the 2011-12 NFL season.

Why?

The lockout - which lasted until July 25^th - took a drastic chunk of out of training camps and preseason time for NFL teams. It's said that training camp and preseason are the most important facets of an NFL season for clubs, for that is when teams push themselves to the wall in order to get everything ready for the season. In a sport that is so heavily reliant on timings and repetitions, those weeks that were lost to the lockout would now be worth their weight in gold.

That lost time simply meant that teams were not able to spend enough time preparing for the helter-skelter that is an NFL season. Not enough time for quarterbacks to perfect a three-step drop, not enough time for receivers to memorize their routes so they can be hit in stride and gallop away to the end zone.

Or, think about it this way, NFL playbooks are widely accepted to hold upwards of 800-plays. All of which have to be memorized by players. The ability to manage the game is one of the most integral elements of any successful NFL side, a huge part of that is knowing the plays. With less time to learn them, it obviously becomes harder to memorize the litany of variations on the pass, blitz packages or zone schemes.

You hear commentators and pundits gush over teams that are "on the same page". That doesn't just happen; it gets drilled into players in training camp.

That's the greatest lasting effect of the lockout; teams that have gone through changes - either playing or coaching based - will stumble out of the blocks in 2011.

This is bad news for two of the top five prospects in the 2011 season; the Philadelphia Eagles and the Atlanta Falcons. (So I don't necessarily share the optimism of my BPL colleague James Rosewarne about these two.)

Philadelphia has been incredibly aggressive in the offseason, adding a multitude of stars to a side that featured in the playoffs last season. Nnamdi Asomugha, Dominick Rodgers-Cromartie, Jason Babin, Ronnie Brown, Vince Young and Cullen Jenkins are all All-Pro caliber players, and are all new additions to the Eagles. Importantly, they're all key position players. Asomugha and Cromartie will be given the job - along with Asante Samuel - of putting the clamps of their opponents' wide receivers, something that the Eagles were not able to do last year. Babin and Jenkins will be tasked with anchoring the defensive line, the position that is most integral to a defensive stopping an offense. While Brown and Young are not starters in their positions - running back and quarterback respectively - they have a massive role to play in supporting LeSean McCoy and Mike Vick.

Of all NFL teams, the Eagles have potentially been hit hardest by the lockout.

The Atlanta Falcons won't feel the same pain as the Eagles, due to the fact that they kept the core of their team basically the same. The question mark appears in the form of rookie wide receiver, Julio Jones. Jones was the standout wide receiver in College Football last year, and a key cog in the engine of the Alabama Crimson Tide. The Falcons were incredibly keen to get their hands out Jones - they traded up in the draft to select him with the sixth pick - because they felt he would fill their most glaring weakness from 2010. Jones gives the Falcons a downfield threat, something that for all their success last year, Atlanta were sorely lacking.

The biggest problem for Jones and the Falcons is that, as a rookie, he is starting from scratch. Training camp is key moment for rookies especially, as it is when they first get a chance to find their feet in their new team. Given that Jones is a wide receiver, his connection with All-Pro quarterback Matt Ryan is the arguably the most important component of his campaign for 2011. Anyone who has watched Jones perform can see that his has the offensive talent and athletic prowess to dominant at his position, but if he and Ryan aren't on the same page, the Falcons offense will struggle to get off the ground.

So what does this all mean then?

It means that the established order in the NFL will likely hold steady this season. Teams like the Ravens, Steelers, Packers, Saints and Jets will likely be amongst the last few standing in February next year. Their consistency and familiarity should give them an edge in the early stages of the 2011 campaign. With this season shaping up as one of the most even and hotly contested crusades in recent history, an early season stumble could prove fatal.

It might not be an exciting pick, but expect more of the same in the NFL this season.