Tag: key dates

NFL offseason events calendar: Senior Bowl, Draft, Free Agency, other key dates

Key dates for NFL teams for the 2025 offseason including the East West Shrine Bowl, Senior Bowl, Draft, Free Agency, Deadlines, and more.

The NFL offseason starts picking up steam soon. The college football season is officially over and the start of the events in which those prospects can begin preparing to show their individual skills for NFL scouts begins.

It begins this weekend when college players from around the country converge for East West Shrine Bowl practices and next week for Senior Bowl practices.

From there, the offseason is in full swing. Here is a list of important dates for all NFL teams this offseason.

January
26-Jan AFC & NFC Championship Games
30-Jan East-West Shrine Bowl
February
1-Feb Senior Bowl
2-Feb Pro Bowl Games
9-Feb Super Bowl LIX
Feb 24 – Mar 3 NFL Scouting Combine (Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, Indiana)
March
4-Mar 1pm (4pm ET) Deadline for clubs to designate Franchise or Transition Players.
Mar 10-12 9am (Noon ET) Free Agent Negotiation Period.
12-Mar 1pm (4pm ET) Start of 2025 League Year and Free Agency signing, Trading period.
Mar 30-Apr 2 Annual League Meeting in Palm Beach, Florida
April
7-Apr Clubs with new Head Coach may begin offseason workout programs.
18-Apr Deadline for Restricted Free Agents to sign Offer Sheets.
21-Apr Clubs with returning Head Coaches may begin offseason workout programs.
24- April NFL Draft Round 1 Green Bay, Wisconsin
25-Apr NFL Draft Rounds 2-3
26 Apr NFL Draft Rounds 4-7
May
1-May Deadline for Clubs to exercise Fifth-Year Option for players selected in the first round of the 2022 Draft.
May 2-5 or 9-12
Clubs may elect to hold their one three-day post-Draft rookie minicamp from Friday through Sunday or Saturday through Monday.
12-May Rookie Football Development Programs begin.
14-May NFLPA Rookie Premiere, Los Angeles, California.
Mid-May Organized Team Activities (OTA’s)
June
Early June Three-day Mandatory Minicamp
Late June Rookie Readiness Program to be held at individual clubs.
July
July 15 1pm (4pm ET) Deadline for Franchise Player to sign multiyear contract or extension or play under tag.
Late-July Training camp opens

NFL announces key dates for 2025 draft, start of free agency

The Saints will have some high-profile free agents in 2025 like Paulson Adebo and Rashid Shaheed. The NFL just announced when they could hit the market:

Yes, 2025 is still a long ways away — but it’s important to keep an eye on the future. That’s how the New Orleans Saints operate, and so does every other NFL team. The league office announced key dates for the 2025 offseason this week, highlighting the 2025 NFL draft and the start of free agency.

Here’s what we learned:

  • Feb. 18 to March 4: This is the window for teams to use the franchise tag (or the less-common transition tag).
  • March 12: This is the start of the new league year and free agency signing period.
  • April 24-26: The three-day 2025 NFL draft, which will be held in Green Bay.

We can infer some other things, like the real start of free agency being March 10. That’s when the legal tampering period opens, where teams court free agents and discuss contracts, but deals may only be agreed to, not signed. Every year a couple of players renege on those handshake agreements so nothing is guaranteed until pens go to paper a few days later.

Will the Saints use the franchise tag in 2025? Maybe. They’d like to avoid it given their complex salary cap situation, but they have several high-profile players headed for free agency after the 2024 season: Paulson Adebo, Pete Werner, Chase Young, Willie Gay, Juwan Johnson, Payton Turner, and Rashid Shaheed (who will be a restricted free agent, making him ineligible for the tag but easier to re-sign).

No one expected the Saints to use the franchise tag the last time they brought it out, at least not the summer before. It certainly wasn’t expected to be such a difficult decision between tagging Marcus Williams or Trey Hendrickson. Letting Hendrickson walk away in free agency (while tagging Williams only to fail to re-sign him later) has turned out to be one of Mickey Loomis’ biggest blunders, but going into his breakout season with the Saints he had just 6.5 sacks in three years. We’re in the same position now that we were then. Maybe one of those players we just listed performs so well in 2024 the Saints can’t afford to let them go in 2025.

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NBA news: League announces key dates for 2021-22 season

The NBA announced start dates for the 2020-21 regular season, playoffs and more.

As the 2020-21 NBA playoffs continue, the league is finalizing preparations for the 2021-22 season with key start times announced.

On Sept. 28, teams will begin training camp to get acclimated before the regular season tips off about a month later.

As NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in May, the regular season will start on Oct. 19.

The NBA is returning to its normal 82-game season next year after having a condensed 72-game season this year.

The playoffs will start on April 16 with the first game of the NBA finals slated for June 2. If the series goes to seven games, Game 7 will occur on June 19.

On June 23, four days after a potential Game 7, the 2022 NBA draft will take place.

For the Los Angeles Lakers, this news is a breath of fresh air since it was one of two teams to have only 71 days of rest time last offseason.

With Los Angeles’ early elimination from the playoffs, the new start date gives the team 138 days to rest as injuries piled up throughout the season.

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