Massive Off-season Update For Cowboys’ Brian Schottenheimer & Bears’ Ben Johnson as NFL Announces Blow For 25 Teams

With the first wave of NFL free agency in the rearview mirror and the NFL draft coming soon—the march toward Super Bowl LX starts today. It’s that time of the year when players start coming back to their homes for the next 18 weeks. But 18 weeks is just the regular season. If you count the offseason program and possible postseason adventure, then it’s way more than 18 weeks. Well, for some teams, it starts today, while for others—not just yet.

The NFL is a bit kind to those franchises that had a somewhat horrible season last year. Because of their disappointing seasons, many had to change coaches. With that thought in mind, the NFL allows teams with new head coaches to get an early head start for their offseason programs. This initiative allows those new names at the helm to know their players and, of course, their new staff. It helps them get those players a basic road map of the system they would be playing in for this year’s NFL journey.

7 clubs have installed new head coaches in 2025. But out of those 7 only 3 start their Day 1 of the voluntary offseason program without wasting any time. The Chicago Bears (Ben Johnson), New England Patriots (Mike Vrabel), and New York Jets (Aaron Glenn) are the first franchises to kickstart their campaign at the earliest. The Jaguars(Liam Coen) and the Raiders (Pete Carroll) will join them tomorrow. As for Brian Schottenheimer’s Cowboys and Kellen Moore’s Saints, they will wait a week before opening their offseason program on April 14th.

Just to let you know, as per the league’s Collective Bargaining Agreement, this 9-week voluntary offseason program will be conducted in 3 phases. Phase 1 (two weeks) will include only meetings with some conditioning training and physical rehabilitation. Then, in Phase 2 (three weeks), on-field workouts will be conducted. It will all be at a walk-through pace. No live contact is allowed between team offense or team defense. Now, for the remaining four weeks, i.e., Phase 3 teams will be allowed to hold OTAs. 7-on-7, 9-on-7, and 11-on-11 drills will take place, but still, no live contact is allowed.

Well, there’s another added advantage those 7 head coaches are going to get from the NFL. If they want, the NFL allows an additional voluntary minicamp. But there’s a catch. It must be conducted before the NFL draft, which kicks off on April 24th. The Bears, Jaguars, Raiders, and Jets have already announced they are holding their voluntary minicamps on April 21-23. As for the Patriots, it’s two days before the NFL draft (April 22nd).

Now, you might be wondering what about the other 25? When are they kicking off their offseason program? Well, here’s a run of their dates.

Bills, Chiefs, Eagles and Co. still have to wait for their turn

The rest of the 25 NFL teams are eligible to begin their calendars from April 21st.

All 32 NFL teams are allowed to hold at least one mandatory minicamp for veterans. But that minicamp needs to occur during Phase three of the offseason program. Each team is also given a slot in the next 7 weeks to hold a rookie minicamp. However, none of the off-season activities will occur during the weekends. Just one expectation: post-draft one rookie minicamp can be held in the first or second weekend following the conclusion of the draft. The dates of those minicamps will be announced post-draft. So, there you go. The battle for a spot at Levi Stadium in February begins today—at least for some.