Commanders offseason: Important dates on 2022 NFL calendar

The offseason the newly-minted Washington Commanders are about to embark on is the biggest in recent franchise history. We’d argue you could go back further than “recent,” but you get the point. It’s a doozy. Plain and simple.

While most teams around the NFL are just starting to sniff the offseason air, the Commanders are already dressed and ready for battle, no pun intended.

After all, between re-signing Charles Leno, inking a host of players to reserve/futures contracts and the Feb. 2 rebrand, which included the unveiling of the Commanders moniker and a new uniform threesome, Washington has been putting the pedal to the metal since the season ended.

Beyond that, the expectation is that the Commanders will swing big at the quarterback market this offseason, so fans will be dialed in.

Of course, such a move can’t transpire until the start of the new league year, but that’s just one date Commanders fans (yup, still weird) should have circled on their calendars between now and the start of the 2022 regular season.

Commanders offseason: Important dates on 2022 NFL calendar

Like every offseason, the new league year won’t arrive until March, but there are still significant events taking place between now and then.

• Feb. 3: East-West Shrine Bowl
• Feb 5. Reese’s Senior Bowl
• Feb. 6: 2022 Pro Bowl
• Feb. 13: Super Bowl LVI
• Feb. 19: HBCU Legacy Bowl

Only a select few fans care for the Pro Bowl, but it’s football (sort of), so some folks might feel compelled to get their fix in. The East-West Shrine Bowl and the Reese’s Senior Bowl, meanwhile, are pertinent in regard to the 2022 NFL Draft.

Senior Bowl practices have been going on all week, and some prospects have taken full advantage of the opportunity to boost their draft stock.

2022 NFL Draft calendar

• March 1-7: NFL Scouting Combine
• April 20: Deadline to bring prospects to facilities for physical examination
• April 27: Deadline to test, time and interview draft-eligible players.
• April 28-30: 2022 NFL Draft

The Commanders will hold the No. 11 overall pick this year. They’ll have picks in every other round except the fifth. Last year, they traded their 2022 fifth-rounder to the Eagles for a sixth- and seventh-round selection, which they turned into Cameron Cheeseman and William Bradley-King.

2022 NFL free agency and offseason

• March 8: Deadline to apply franchise or transition tags
• March 14: Inception of the legal tampering period, in which teams can officially star negotiating with pending free agents.
• March 16: NFL new year begins, all all contracts from 2021 officially expire.
  • Free agents can sign with teams
  • Clubs can perform trades, or non-official trades in which the terms were agreed upon at an earlier date, can be announced.
• March 27-30: Annual league meeting in Palm Beach, Florida
• April 4: Teams that hired a new head coach after the 2021 season can begin offseason workout programs.
• April 18: Teams with returning head coaches can begin workout programs.
• April 22: Deadline for restricted free agents to sign offer sheets.
• April 27: Deadline for teams to exercise Right of First Refusal to restricted free agents.

That should just about do it. You’ll notice we didn’t include the official start dates for minicamp, OTAs and training camp, but those won’t be announced until later in the spring in accordance with the collective bargaining agreement.

Typically, though, rookie minicamp gets underway a few weeks after the draft, while OTAs often commence in late-May, which is right around the time the NFL regular-season gets announced, and training camp usually begins in late-July.

The Commanders already know their opponents for 2022, but we won’t know the dates of those matchups for a couple more months.

Are you as excited as we are? Let’s get it going already!