Important Dates to keep track of

[Puck]

Important dates
March 1: The deadline for assigning the franchise or transition tag to players passes at 4 p.m. ET.

March 7-9: Before the new league year begins, the NFL has a three-day window where teams and impending free agents are allowed to freely negotiate. Also known as the “legal tampering” period, this is where most of the megacontracts get hammered out. By the time the league calendar flips over, we’ll have a good idea of where nearly every big-name free agent is heading next.

March 9: The 2017 league year begins at 4 p.m. ET. You can expect about a thousand Adam Schefter tweets all at once when free-agent contract deals become official. This is also the time when all teams must be under the salary cap.

July 15: This is the deadline for franchise-tagged players to sign a long-term deal. If the player and team are unable to reach an agreement, then the player is locked into his one-year deal and is a free agent again next offseason.