OK, the dreaded time is finally here. There is absolutely no NFL game of any sort coming on this weekend, so it's now officially the 2012 NFL Offseason.
Can I get a "GAAAAAAAA!"? I feel better now. Not much, but some.
Our minds, bodies, and souls must shift into a whole different mode of operation. Instead of a daily and weekly pattern of happenings and events, it's a much more drawn out framework that instead unfolds over weeks and months at a glacial pace.
Make the jump to dig into this some more with me...
During the glorious days of wine and roses in the regular season, every single day of the week has a special significance. Monday is Who Dat Say!?! day and consists of the absorption of all post-game coverage. Tuesday is the day Jeff Duncan's Film Study column usually appears on nola.com. Wednesday is the first official injury report day, while Thursday is Podcast day, and Friday is Prediction Friday. Saturday is college football games (Tiger BAIT!!!), and Sunday is gameday, of course, which became all the more enjoyable this season with the advent of HansDat's Hot Reads.
But it's a whole different flow from February through September, and things slow down dramatically, and maddeningly so. February is Scouting Combine Month, and March is Free Agency Month. April is Draft Month, and then May and June are OTA and mini-camp months. July is dead, and then Training Camps open at the end of July and early in August. The opening night for the NFL 2012 regular season is waaaaaaaaaaay far off (September 6).
Here's how the offseason calendar rounds into shape (these are all the specific dates I could find):
- February 20 - Teams may apply franchise and transition designations to players starting now.
- February 22-28 - NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, IN, with regional player combines being held now through late March around the country.
- March 5 - Final deadline to apply franchise and transition designations to players.
- March 13 - Free agency begins.
- April 26-28 - NFL Draft, New York, NY.
- May/June - Individual team mini-camps and OTAs.
- July - big lotta nothin'
- August - Training camp!!
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September 6 - not the Saints playing anywhere day (hopefully).
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So, that's the 2012 offseason in a nutshell, and now I want to hear from you. How active will you be in this offseason? What will you do to beat the Offseason Blues?
Are you a mock draft connoisseur or do you just mock them? Do you scout the combine or are you clueless about the Wonderlic? Are you a free agency freak, or do you not give a flip? Are you sick of these dichotomous questions or are you starving for more?