NFL reveals key dates on the 2024-25 calendar

The NFL recently announced important dates for the remainder of 2024 on through the 2025 offseason. Here are some dates to file away during these periods:

Key dates remaining on the 2024 NFL calendar

• July 15: Franchise tag extension deadline
• Aug. 27: Teams can stash two players on a reserve list before finalizing their 53-man roster
• Aug. 27: By 4 p.m. ET, clubs must reduce rosters from 90 to 53 players
• Aug. 28: Post-cutdown waiver claims due at noon ET
• Aug. 28: Teams can begin setting practice squads
• Sept. 27-30: Teams can begin designating players placed on IR, NFI and PUP lists for return
• Nov. 5: Trade deadline set for 4 p.m. ET
• Nov. 6: Vested veterans (if cut) become subject to waivers

Key dates for the 2025 offseason

• Jan. 6: Players chosen in 2022 draft can begin negotiating extensions
• Jan. 8: Teams must designate salary cap carryover amounts
• Feb. 18-March 4: Franchise and transition tag application window
• March 4-April 16: Window for clubs to conduct “30” visits
• March 10-12: Legal tampering period
• March 12: 2025 league year begins at 4 p.m. ET
• April 7: Teams that hired new head coaches can begin offseason programs
• April 21: Clubs with returning HCs can begin offseason work
• April 24-26: 2025 NFL Draft
• April 29: Restricted free agency signing period ends
• May 1: Deadline for teams to exercise or decline fifth-year options on 2022 first-round picks

Eight of the nine franchise- or transition-tagged players have signed extensions, and Tee Higgins signed his franchise tender. This renders this year’s tender deadlines moot, though the Bengals still have until July 15 to extend Higgins. Otherwise, they cannot negotiate with the fifth-year wide receiver until January.

As PFR’s Ely Allen detailed last week, an NFL rule change allows teams more late-August flexibility. Two players per team can now be placed on IR before a 53-man roster is set and remain eligible to return later in the season. 

Previously, anyone placed on IR before a team set its final 53 was not eligible to play for that team during the season. If a team uses any of its two such designations, however, it immediately counts against its injury activation number. Teams have eight regular-season injury activations available. The NFL also adjusted its IR-return rule for the playoffs.

After placing its trade deadline on the Tuesday following Week 8 for the past 12 years, a March vote moved this year’s deadline to the Tuesday after Week 9. 

A proposal emerged to slide the deadline, now that the league is playing an 18-week season, to the Tuesday following Week 10. Owners settled on a compromise, allowing trading to be conducted for one extra week in 2024.