The NFL never really stops — it just changes clothes. Here is the 2026 offseason, stop by stop, from April stretching lines to the Wednesday-night kickoff in September.
The calendar, in order
- April — Voluntary offseason workout programs open: nine weeks, three phases, escalating from weight-room-only to full team drills.
- April 23-25 — The draft in Pittsburgh; Fernando Mendoza goes No. 1 overall to the Raiders.
- May 8 — Rookie minicamps begin; first-year players see their playbooks in person.
- Mid-May to early June — OTAs: ten organized team activity sessions per club, no pads, no contact, but full 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 installs.
- June 9-11 — Mandatory minicamp for most clubs, the only attendance-required stretch before camp.
- July 15 / July 22 — Earliest report dates: rookies first, veterans a week later, and training camp begins in earnest.
- August 6 — Hall of Fame Game in Canton: Panthers against Cardinals, football returns to television.
- August 13 onward — Three preseason weekends, followed by the brutal cut to 53-man rosters.
- September 9-10 — Kickoff: Seahawks-Patriots opens the season on Wednesday night, and the Rams meet the 49ers in Melbourne, Australia, the next day.
What each phase actually decides
OTAs are voluntary by rule and political by nature — attendance is read as commitment, and contract holdouts begin as empty chairs in May. The three-phase structure exists in the collective bargaining agreement for safety: clubs that rush contact get fined and lose practice time. Minicamp is the one stretch where skipping costs real money, with fines that escalate by the day.
Why July is the real new year
Nothing on the field matters until pads come on in camp — which is why position battles, rookie evaluations and the first honest depth charts all date from late July, not May. The league’s official rules on offseason workouts, practice limits and fines are published at NFL Football Operations. From the late-August cutdown to 53, every transaction feeds the season that opens September 9 — and our tracker follows each move as it lands.
