2014 NFL Draft is Over; Now What?
By Dennis Amo
Oct 20, 2013; Miami Gardens, FL, USA; Buffalo Bills fans cheer on their team during the second half against the Miami Dolphins at Sun Life Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports
With seemed like an eternity for the 2014 NFL Draft to get here, the 2014 NFL Draft has now come and gone in the blink of an eye. So with the vacant feeling left in your stomach, with nothing to look forward to in the near future; just under 12 weeks until the first football preseason game on August 3rd, which is the Hall of Fame game to feature the Bills and the Giants, what is on the NFL schedule until then.
This is the rest of the schedule through the end of July. Mid-July can’t come soon enough, and don’t forget that the Bills and Giants will get to open training camp a week earlier than anyone else because they are in the Hall of Fame game. Here we come July!
| May 19-21 | NFL Spring League Meeting, Atlanta, Georgia. |
| June 2 | Deadline for Prior Club to send “June 1 Tender” to its unsigned Unrestricted Free Agents. If the player has not signed a Player Contract with a Club by July 22 or the first scheduled day of the first NFL training camp, whichever is later, he may negotiate or sign a Player Contract from that date until the Tuesday following the 10th weekend of the regular season, at 4:00 p.m., New York time, only with his Prior Club. |
| June 2 | Deadline for Prior Club to send “June 1 Tender” to its unsigned Restricted Free Agents who received a Qualifying Offer for a Right of First Refusal Only in order for such player to be subject to the CBA’s “June 15 Tender” provision. |
| June 16 | Deadline for club to withdraw Qualifying Offer to Restricted Free Agents and still retain exclusive negotiating rights by substituting “June 15 Tender” of one-year contract at 110 percent of the player’s prior-year Paragraph 5 Salary (with all other terms of his prior-year contract carried forward unchanged). |
| June 22-28 | Rookie Symposium, Aurora, Ohio. |
| July 15 | At 4:00 p.m., New York time, deadline for any Club that designated a Franchise Player to sign such player to a multi-year contract or extension. After this date, the player may sign only a one-year contract with his Prior Club for the 2014 season, and such contract cannot be extended until after the Club’s last regular season game. |
| Mid-July | Clubs are permitted to open preseason training camp for Rookies and First-Year Players beginning seven days prior to the club’s earliest permissible mandatory reporting date for veteran players.Veteran players (defined as a player with at least one pension-credited season) other than quarterbacks or “injured players” (as defined in CBA Article 21, Section 6) may report to a club’s preseason training camp no earlier than 15 days prior to the club’s first scheduled preseason game or July 15, whichever is later. |
Veteran quarterbacks and injured players may be required to report to the club’s preseason training camp no earlier than five days immediately prior to the mandatory reporting date for all other veteran players, provided the club has already opened (or simultaneously opens) its official preseason training camp for all Rookies and First-Year players.
A three-day acclimation period will apply to players who are on a club’s roster up to and including the mandatory veteran reporting date. Players who join the roster after that date may practice (including wearing pads) and play immediately after passing a physical.July 22Signing Period ends for Unrestricted Free Agents to whom a “June 1 Tender” was made by Prior Club. After this date and until 4:00 p.m., New York time, on the Tuesday following the 10th weekend of the regular season, Prior Club has exclusive negotiating rights. (* or the first scheduled day of the first NFL training camp, whichever is later.)July 22Signing Period ends for Transition Players with outstanding tenders. After this date and until 4:00 p.m., New York time, on the Tuesday following the 10th weekend of the regular season, Prior Club has exclusive negotiating rights.