2020 NFL Offseason Calendar: These Are The Important Dates

Hopefully you read the offseason primer and added the numbers and placed the names into your ledger. Put that away for now. Now is the time to open the windows and pluck your calendar off the wall.

Read below and then add the important dates of the 2020 NFL Offseason calendar to your personal ledger, so that you, and only you, won’t be upended by contract announcements or the passing of the franchise tag deadline date.

Here are the important dates for the 2020 NFL offseason:

• February 3rd: Waiver system for 2020 begins.
• February 11th: NFL clubs may begin to sign players whose 2020 CFL contracts have expired.
• February 24th – March 2nd: 2020 NFL Scouting Combine.
• February 25th: First day for teams to designate Franchise or Transition tags.
• March 10th: Deadline for teams to designate Franchise or Transition tags.
• March 16th – 18th: Clubs are permitted to contact, and enter into contract negotiations with, the certified agents of players who will become Unrestricted Free Agents upon the expiration of their 2019 player contracts. This is also the legal tampering period.
• March 18th: Teams must exercise options for 2020 on all players who have option clauses in their 2019 contracts.
• March 18th: Teams must submit qualifying offers to their Restricted Free Agents with expiring contracts to retain a Right of First Refusal/Compensation.
• March 29th – April 1st: Annual NFL Meetings.
• April 20th: Teams with returning head coaches may begin offseason workout programs.
• April 23rd – 25th: 2020 NFL Draft.
• April 27th: NFL teams may request permission to visit with, try out, or sign any player who was under contract to the XFL at the conclusion of the XFL season.
• May 1st – 4th or May 8th - May 11th: Rookie minicamp. Also of possible importance for Texans fans, this is when Nick Caserio’s contract with the Patriots ends.
• May 19th and 20th: Spring League Meetings.
• July 15th: Deadline for any team that designated a Franchise Player to sign such player to a multiyear contract or extension. After this date, the player may sign only a one-year contract with his prior club for the 2020 season, and such contract cannot be extended until after the team’s last regular season game.
• Mid-July: Teams are permitted to open preseason training camp for rookies beginning seven days prior to the club’s earliest permissible mandatory reporting date for veteran players.
• August 6th – 9th: Pro Football Hall of Fame weekend, anchored by Hall of Fame Game on August 6th.
• August 11th: Deadline for players with contracts to report to their teams in order to gain an accrued season towards free agency
• September 5th: Teams must be down to final 53-man rosters by 3:00 p.m. Houston time.
• September 10th: First game of the 2020 NFL regular season.