Acme Packing Company
The Super Bowl is almost here, but for fans of the 30 NFL teams not participating in that game, the 2026 offseason is already underway. Coaching changes are in full swing, and in just a few weeks the big events that kick off free agency and NFL Draft preparations will take place.
But exactly when are all of the important dates and deadlines, you ask? We’re here to provide those answers. Here is a detailed look at all of the critical events throughout the 2026 offseason, broken down by category and then put into chronological order.
Let’s take a spin through the NFL calendar over the next six months.
Each team can assign the Franchise or Transition tag to one player during this time period. The tag is a one-year contract tender at a specific price based on the player’s position while ensuring that the tendering team has the right of first refusal for any contract offer sheet that the player would sign with another team (Franchise tags also would require a signing team to send the tagging team two first-round draft picks). Tag numbers are based on the confirmed salary cap number for the upcoming season and will be finalized when the final cap number is announced.
Often referred to as the “legal tampering period,” this two-day period ahead of the start of the new league year allows agents of players who will be unrestricted free agents to begin contract negotiations with all teams around the league. No player may officially sign a contract with a new team during this period, but many contracts are agreed to in principle.
This is the big one. As of this date and time, unrestricted free agents players can begin officially signing contracts with new teams. This is also a key deadline for a number of other business items to be executed:
The NFL’s top brass get together for a few days to discuss rules changes and other various league business. This year’s meetings will be held in the Phoenix, Arizona area.
This is the final day that tendered RFAs can sign an offer sheet with a different team. The tendering team then has five days from the signing of the offer sheet to choose to match the offer sheet to retain the player.
