NFL owners have agreed they will not put first-right-of-refusal clauses on 2011 free agents, a major breakthrough in talks with the NFLPA and progress toward a new CBA, sources told ESPN.com's John Clayton.

It had been reported earlier that negotiations stalled Friday because of the free-agency rule.

The players were unwilling to grant NFL teams extra right-of-first-refusals on this year's free-agent class, because many of those free agents were restricted under last year's uncapped system.

Owners had asked that they have the right to designate three free agents whose contract offers from other teams they would have the right to match. Instead, players got what they wanted -- four years of free agency with no restrictions.

As each side reached resolutions on other issues, owners dropped the demand, sources said. The breakthrough moves both sides closer to a resolution for a new collective bargaining agreement.

Once a new CBA has been ratified and the lockout lifted, sources told Clayton free agency is likely to begin July 25.

If the owners ratify a new CBA on Thursday in Atlanta and lift the lockout the next day, teams would then have a 72-hour window to try to re-sign their own free agents, sources told ESPN. After that 72-hour window, free agency would start July 25, sources said.

"Our legal and financial teams will continue to work through the weekend," a joint statement from the owners and players said. "We will continue to respect the confidentiality orders of Chief Magistrate Judge Arthur Boylan and will therefore refrain from commenting on specific issues or aspects of the negotiations. We will provide additional information as developments in this process."

Neither side revealed any details, citing a gag order imposed by Boylan, the court-appointed mediator.

"I wouldn't dare speculate on where we are," said Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, one of six members of the owners' labor committee participating Friday.

Upon exiting the meeting, NFL Players Associaton director DeMaurice Smith told reporters the lawyers will stay behind, but that he and commissioner Roger Goodell will continue to talk this weekend, possibly in person.

Also Friday, the NFL sent all 32 teams a memo saying it was working on an agreement and would hold a debriefing on it Thursday in Atlanta at the league meeting, team sources told ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter.

The sources said no league business such as contracts, negotiations or practices with players, were expected to happen before that meeting. In the memo, the league also reminded teams that lockout rules from March 11 remain in place.

The recess in talks came a day after two other crucial components fell into place.

A 2011 salary cap of $120 million and a rookie wage system, which was seen by sources familiar with the process as the last remaining major hurdle to a deal, have both been agreed to, sources told ESPN.