NFL Offseason Important Dates

[Mind_Odyssey]

Here are the major dates for the 2017 off-season that fans should be aware of:

Wednesday, February 15 – This is the first day that NFL teams can apply their franchise or transition tag to a player.

The franchise/transition tags are devices in the collective bargaining agreement that teams can use to effectively delay one of their players from hitting free agency for a season or get draft pick compensation for a player if he should depart for a different team in free agency.

Teams have until Wednesday, March 1 at 4 p.m. EDT to apply these tags to players.

Tuesday, February 28 – The NFL Draft Combine at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana begins on this day. Invited draft prospects will participate in a wide battery of mental and physical tests for teams to evaluate them upon.

Tuesday, March 7 – Teams can begin negotiations with the agents of players who are unrestricted free agents. Deals can be agreed to by both parties, but not completed at this point.

Thursday, March 9 – Contracts between NFL teams and unrestricted free agents can be completed beginning at 4 p.m. EDT. This is also the date on which teams who have players under contract with options for the 2017-18 must decide whether or not to exercise them. Finally, this is the date on which teams must decide whether or not to tender offers to restricted free agents.

Thursday, April 27 – The first round of the NFL Draft will be held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania this evening. The first 32 picks of the draft will be announced in order.

Friday, April 28 – The second and third rounds of the NFL Draft will be held, again, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This night’s action will include picks 33-96.

Saturday, April 29 – The final four rounds of the NFL Draft will be held in Philadelphia.

While free agency and the draft are still weeks away, teams can begin to apply franchise and transition tags to players in less than two weeks, giving fans some kind of NFL action to discuss in the downtime.

[Ballerhogger]

Why is the draft not in NY?

[Otis Driftwood]

Why is the draft not in NY?

Because they don't boo loud enough in New York.

[Ballerhogger]

Why is the draft not in NY?

Because they don't boo loud enough in New York.

I guess Philly fans can throw cans at Roger instead of Santa this time .

[bleu]

I think they should have it in Boston this year. Imagine the reaction to Goodell there!

[Ballerhogger]

I think they should have it in Boston this year. Imagine the reaction to Goodell there!

Superbowl winner gets the NFL Draft at thier hometown. I like that!

[bluejerseyjinx]

Why is the draft not in NY?

NFL has sure lowered their standards by having the draft in Philly. Wow, disgusting.

[Mind_Odyssey]

Would it be possible for a mod to pin this?

[GoRapstheoriginal]

Would it be possible for a mod to pin this?

/signed Seconded.

[bluejerseyjinx]

Would it be possible for a mod to pin this?

Hopefully not. This is a football forum.

[Mind_Odyssey]

Would it be possible for a mod to pin this?

Hopefully not. This is a football forum.

What do you mean?

[bluejerseyjinx]

Would it be possible for a mod to pin this?

Hopefully not. This is a football forum.

What do you mean?

If you don't know the difference between a football forum and a basketball forum, I can't help you. Why the hell would anyone want to post a Cavalier championship banner in a football forum. The only banner the mods should post in here is a Patriot banner which I hope they don't do either,

[Mind_Odyssey]

Hopefully not. This is a football forum.

What do you mean?

If you don't know the difference between a football forum and a basketball forum, I can't help you. Why the hell would anyone want to post a Cavalier championship banner in a football forum. The only banner the mods should post in here is a Patriot banner which I hope they don't do either,

I was talking about the thread. Also, that Cavs banner is my sig.

[bluejerseyjinx]

What do you mean?

If you don't know the difference between a football forum and a basketball forum, I can't help you. Why the hell would anyone want to post a Cavalier championship banner in a football forum. The only banner the mods should post in here is a Patriot banner which I hope they don't do either,

I was talking about the thread. Also, that Cavs banner is my sig.

Nothing at all about the thread. Thread is excellent. I thought you were talking about the banner.

[Otis Driftwood]

...

Thursday, April 27 – The first round of the NFL Draft will be held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania this evening. The first 32 picks of the draft will be announced in order.

Co-titled "The Day That Bowl Games Started Dying"...
https://sportsday.dallasnews.com/college-sports/collegesports/2017/05/01/college-bowl-system-dead-yet-nfl-draft-drove-another-nail-coffin

The NFL draft just drove another nail into the college bowl system's coffin

That sound of screaming off in the distance this past weekend? That was the bowl system, already gasping for breath and taking a turn for the worse.

It can't be fixed by Michigan tight end Jake Butt, no matter how much you appreciate his faith-based attitude after having perhaps lost upwards of $2 million by playing in the Orange Bowl. And it certainly won't be saved by running backs Leonard Fournette and Christian McCaffrey, who left their teams in the lurch by skipping bowls to enhance their draft status.

Hard-core LSU and Stanford fans may have lost some appreciation for their teams' star backs when it happened. None of that mattered when the NFL treated them like lottery winners.

When college football bowed to the wishes of the majority and accepted a playoff system -- even one as small as four teams -- it hammered the first nail into the bowls' coffin. Those games would soon be considered useless by the media, by fans and (one day soon) a strapped-for-cash cable network.

We just didn't know that players would feel likewise.

It's all about the playoff now, and the NFL didn't exactly fail to notice. On Thursday and Friday nights, 18 of the top 55 players chosen -- nearly one-third -- were from Clemson, Alabama, Ohio State and Washington. That's a remarkable haul for four teams to provide.

But it's really the three players mentioned here that will impact things moving forward.

Fournette skipped out on LSU's bowl game, didn't even have a totally impressive combine and was still picked fourth by Jacksonville Thursday night. Same spot as Ezekiel Elliott a year ago, even if the Jaguars' situation is unlikely to give Fournette the opportunity to produce similar results.

McCaffrey was a less certain first-round pick last December when he announced he would skip Stanford's Sun Bowl appearance. He had a great combine and did nothing but climb draft boards. McCaffrey landed in Carolina with the No. 8 pick Thursday night, despite the fact he's seen as more of a utility back-receiver than an every down ball-carrier.

That didn't stop ESPN's Herm Edwards (Mr. "You Play to Win the Game" himself) from tagging McCaffrey as the one player who can make an immediate impact on his team's offense.

Now understand that the draft success of Fournette and McCaffrey will not open the doors for an across-the-board rush to skip bowl games. These two players had significant name recognition. Both finished in the top six in Heisman balloting in 2015, although injuries caused them to slide in 2016 voting.

But the question of whether star players can call it a season in December if their team isn't in the playoff has been answered by the NFL with a definitive, "Sure, come on aboard."

Of course, Michigan's Butt did not do that. Like most football players, he isn't wired that way. He participated in the Orange Bowl and suffered a major knee injury. That meant he slid to the top of the fifth round before the Denver Broncos picked him Saturday.

Butt had an insurance policy that will pay him $543,000 tax free. That coupled with his probable signing bonus is equivalent to being picked in the third round. However, some analysts thought Butt might be a second-round pick.

Since we will never know, that speculation will live. By comparison, Arkansas tight Hunter Henry, who was drafted with the third pick in the second round in 2016, begins his NFL career with about $2.7 million more in guarantees than Butt.

The Michigan tight end said he had no regrets about playing in the Orange Bowl. He tweeted, "All it took was a little trust in God and a little patience. Couldn't be happier to be a part of the Broncos.''

Most college football players will continue down Butt's path. Either oblivious to the money that schools are raking in these days or simply satisfied with their scholarship and stipend, they will suit up, play hurt, take injections, do whatever it takes and roll the dice.

Butt's injury comes one year after a similarly devastating injury dropped Notre Dame's Jaylon Smith from a high first-round pick to a high second-round pick, costing him millions. The Cowboys remain optimistic he will participate in team drills shortly, but he remains less than 100 percent a year after Dallas drafted him.

And in the wake of the 2017 draft, more of those who can follow the Fournette and McCaffrey path, the all-conference and all-America players who have produced the tape that will get them into the first round, will see the non-playoff bowl games for what they have become -- a money grab for coaches, athletic departments and administrators.

The bowls aren't dead. But they have never seemed smaller in stature than they do today.

Tim Cowlishaw - Dallas Morning News