The NFL Free Agency period for 2014 is about to begin and the schedule starts up on March 11 at 4 pm as the deadline when players can begin to sign and for teams to be under the salary cap, while Saturday agents and teams can start officially speaking to free agents about signing them this offseason.
The NFL combine was the first big event of the offseason along with the franchise tag and transition tag deadlines and now the free agency period will kick things into high gear. Spring workouts and summer camps are not as far off as people think and while the Seahawks still can see their Lombardi Trophy shimmering, there are 31 other teams preparing to try and get that this season and the offseason could be key for anyone looking to do that.
The March 8 date allows for clubs to start speaking with players and agents that are going to be unrestricted free agents and while they cannot get signed until Tuesday, everyone knows deal can be done during that time ie Albert Haynesworth, but we know how that turned out. Following the start of free agency, offseason workout programs are coming up in April and then of course the draft is in May. By the Tuesday deadline, teams must be under the salary cap and that means veteran cuts and they also have a deadline to put in qualifying offers to their restricted free agents with expiring contracts.
The combine went from February 19 to the 25 in Indy and now March 11 is the next big date on the calendar, as teams have until that day to submit qualifying offers and salary tenders for restricted free agents. After March 11, there are some other important dates before the draft, including April 7, which allows teams with a new head coach to start offseason programs, and May 2, which is the deadline for restricted free agents to sign offer sheets and that will be interesting to see as well.
This offseason has a number of important dates coming up and the biggest one is that March 11 date, as free agency begins and teams must have their cap numbers correct by 4 pm on that day. That will cause some teams to cut players leading up to that date and some names will be looking forward to hitting the market, including players like Justin Tuck, Darren McFadden, Knowshon Moreno, Ben Tate and Greg Hardy.
The draft starts May 8 and continues through the weekend on the 10 and ends on Saturday after opening with the first round on Thursday night. Those are all the next important dates on the NFL calendar.
