NFL Schedule Release, Offseason Rookie Mini Camps & NFL News Updates
The 2024 NFL Draft has been a wonderful oasis for us in the lonely off-season desert. But we want more. Sure, you can fill the void with your dynasty rookie drafts or by drafting copious amounts of best ball fantasy football teams (and you can use the rankings in our 2024 Best Ball Cheat Sheet to do it). But we yearn for REAL football activity. Give us training camp, give us preseason games - heck, at least just give us the schedule! ANYTHING to help get us through the offseason.
We can’t give you all of those things right now. But what we can do is tell us when they are coming (or in the case of the 2024 NFL schedule, we can give you our best approximation of when it will come). Here is basic idea of the NFL off-season schedule and important dates to guide us threw the barren off-season wasteland.
2024 NFL Schedule - Early May
- We don’t have an exact date but, historically, the schedule has been released on an early Thursday in May. Since today is Thursday and it is not out, we suspect the NFL schedule will be released on Thursday, May 16th.
Rookie Minicamp and Development Program - Mid May
- A few teams, like the New York Jets, Kansas City Chiefs, Philadelphia Eagles, Green Bay Packers, Baltimore Ravens, and Seattle Seahawks, had theirs last week. The New York Giants started theirs yesterday. The other 25 team have rookie minicamp starting TODAY, May 10th.
- The Rookie Football Development Program begins on May 13th.
Organized Team Activities (OTAs) - Late May to Early June
- Most teams have OTAs starting on either May 20 or 21st. There are a couple exceptions. Each team has 10 days of OTAs that they can spread out over May and early June was they please with some days off in between but here are the start dates for each team.
- May 13
- May 14
- May 20
- Buffalo Bills
- Miami Dolphins
- New England Patriots
- New York Jets
- Baltimore Ravens
- Houston Texans
- Jacksonville Jaguars
- Tennessee Titans
- Los Angeles Chargers
- New York Giants
- Philadelphia Eagles
- Chicago Bears
- Green Bay Packers
- Minnesota Vikings
- Carolina Panthers
- Arizona Cardinals
- Los Angeles Rams
- San Francisco 49ers
- Seattle Seahawks
- May 21
- May 28
Mandatory Minicamp - Early June
- Most teams hold mandatory minicamp either the first or second week of June and that is three consecutive days of practice. Most teams are holding theirs sometime from June 10th to June 12th with the exception of these teams.
Franchise Tag Deadline - Mid July
- Teams that franchise-tagged players have until July 17th to sign them to a multi-year deal. Otherwise they either need to play on the franchise tag or a negotiated one-year deal (like Josh Jacobs did last season).
Training Camp - Late July
- Training camp dates have not been released yet for 2024. In 2023, the earliest that rookies reported for camp for most teams was July 18th and the earliest any veterans reported was July 22nd. The two teams playing in the first preseason game last year, the Hall of Fame Game, were the New York Jets and Cleveland Browns and they had everyone report on July 19th. So we can assume training camp will once again be in late July.
Hall of Fame Game, Joint Practices, and Preseason Games - August
The 2024 Hall of Fame Game is scheduled for August 1st in Canton, Ohio between the Chicago Bears and the Houston Texans. The rest of the preseason games have not been schedule but they will take place in August. Around half the teams last year also scheduled joint practices which began on August 8th.
First NFL Game of 2024 - September
The first NFL game will kick off on Thursday, September 5th with the reining champion Kansas City Chiefs traditionally hosting someone for that game (the lone exception in recent history being the 2013 Baltimore Ravens starting their season on the road after winning the Super Bowl due to a scheduling conflict with the Baltimore Orioles).