Offseason Schedule

League Off-Season/New Rule Period (January – February)

• January

  • Trades are permitted once the playoffs end

  • Waivers are closed at the end of the playoffs and do not reopen until after the Free Agent Auction in the fall

  • Holdouts will be declared by the commissioner by the end of January

  • Rookie Draft Lottery will happen before the end of January

• February

  • Decisions on Holdout players need to be made by March 1

  • Franchise and Transition Tags must be declared by March 1

  • Second year players on the Taxi Squad must be released or promoted to the Active Roster by March 1

  • Players on long-term contracts can be released prior to March 1 and their Dead Cap penalty will only count against the upcoming season

• March

  • Players whose contracts expired become Free Agents on March 1

  • Existing Contracts are adjusted to reflect the updated years remaining

  • Transition Tag Bidding happens between March 1 and March 8

Refer to the Rookie Draft section

• Each August, an Auction Draft will be held allowing for the bidding on all Free Agents, including players whose contracts ran out after the previous season and undrafted rookies

  • Apart from the Rookie Draft and the Transition Tag process, the Free Agent Auction is the only way to sign players to long-term contracts

• Each team’s budget will be determined by their available Salary Cap space

• The Free Agent Auction will either be held through the Sleeper platform or via a chat-based bidding process, depending on Sleeper's capabilities