Every year, the new NFL year begins not when the calendar turns in January or after the confetti falls in February. It happens in March, the middle of the month, when everything resets. New salary cap kicks in, trades can be finalized, free agents can be signed.
In past years, the first day of the league year has been frenetic and, at times, unhinged. Remember three years ago, when the a trio of trades was announced in rapid-fire succession as the new league year began? Sam Bradford for Nick Foles, Jimmy Graham to the Seahawks, Haloti Ngata to the Lions? The NFL world went mad.
This year, with nearly a dozen trades already negotiated and dozens of players “intending to sign” contracts after 4:00 p.m. ET, there’s a sense that, when Christmas morning arrives, most of the presents already have been opened. And maybe that’s the case.
Or maybe there’s more to come. More surprises. More trades. More players to be cut after the new league year begins, and the post-June 1 designation can spread the cap consequences over two years.
However it plays out, it makes sense to pay close attention to everything that happens throughout the course of the day. And we’ll be right here, tracking it all.
So settle in, periodically refresh the page, and enjoy the process of discovering what your favorite team will do -- or have done to it -- as 2018 officially arrives for 345 Park Avenue and 32 NFL franchises.