Bleed Green

Football never ends.  It’s a 12-month, 365-day industry, and that’s something I’ve always loved about being in this business for the past 24 years. While the timeline of events is pretty much the same from year to year--the 2011 lockout notwithstanding--the people and issues involved are always different and makes for a “never a dull moment” experience. While four teams are still preparing for games in the hope of winning the Lombardi Trophy, all 32 teams are also building their roster for the 2012 season. Our agency is hip deep in all of those things. The NFL calendar is a unique thing, and most fans are surprised to hear about some of the quirks in it. In the NFL, the calendar turns each March. All player contracts expire on the final day of February (the date falls on February 29 this year, due to leap year), but the next League Year, as the term is used, begins March 12, 2012. The League Year is an important item since it resets the clock in the NFL. At the start of each League Year, the new salary cap is set and all teams begin the year at or under that designated cap. The 2011 cap was $120,375,000, and the 2012 cap should fall in the area of $142,200,000. At this time, team rosters get to bloat to 80 players under contract; however, only the 51 largest contracts count against the salary cap. Teams can officially began signing players for their 2012 roster on January 2, but the process actually begins much earlier than that.  These signings for the “next” League Year are called "futures” signings, and typically these are the players with the best chance to compete for an actual roster spot. They are the most sought-after "street" free agents--players whom teams want to include in their offseason workout program, OTAs (Organized Team Activities, or practices, really), and minicamps. Street free agent (players unsigned at the end of the season) workouts and signings also occur at all times during the offseason as teams piece together their 80-man rosters. Fans should not take these signings too lightly. In fact, it’s a fun exercise to keep track of these signings and try to project which guys will be the steal of the offseason and make a roster, or even better, make an impact on their team in 2012. Just like the futures signings, preparation for the much-anticipated event of free agency begins long before that date. Most commonly, teams and agents have casual discussions about upcoming free agents at two places: the Senior Bowl and the Scouting Combine. The Senior Bowl week begins January 22 and most agents and NFL team representatives will leave Mobile, Alabama before the 27th. Those preliminary chats will often lead to more discussions in Indianapolis at the Combine during the week of February 20. It happens all the time, by every agent and every team. That’s a fact. Read more here.