Cleveland Browns offseason: Important dates to know heading toward the 2024 NFL season
Time flies in the NFL.
One day you're watching future pros test themselves at the Combine. The next you're watching Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs once again hold up the Lombardi Trophy as another season ends in the Super Bowl.
With the NFL offseason underway, here's look at the various key dates to know — and how they might impact the Browns — between now and the start of the 2024 regular season. Some of the dates will be estimates based upon previous years because the league hasn't officially announced this year's dates.
Feb. 20-March 5: Franchise and transition tags for NFL free agents
This shouldn't impact the Browns at this stage of the offseason because there's no potential free agents for whom they're likely to tag. However, it may have an impact when free agency opens up next month. It could essentially take potential free agent targets — such as Cincinnati Bengals receiver Tee Higgins — off the market.
Feb. 27-March 4: NFL Scouting Combine, Indianapolis
The center of the football universe will find its way to the center of Indiana for the better part of a week. The stated goal of the event is to work out and interview prospective rookies. However, the week is also where NFL teams set the groundwork for future trades and/or free agent signings. Browns general manager Andrew Berry and coach Kevin Stefanski also will speak to the media over the course of the first two days.
March 11-13: NFL free agent 'negotiation period'
From noon March 11 until 3:59.59 p.m. March 13, teams can essentially do everything short of officially sign players. This will be the time period a large percentage of the big-ticket free-agent deals get done. A year ago, the Browns locked up their two biggest free-agent signings — defensive end Ogbo Okoronkwo and defensive tackle Dalvin Tomlinson — on the first day of this period.
March 13: 2024 NFL league year officially begins
At 4 p.m. March 13, the league year officially begins and teams can actually begin signing or trading players. Often it's anti-climatic, because the deals that are announced on this day typically were reported during the previous two-plus days.
March 24-27: Owners Meetings, Orlando
The league power brokers will gather at the Ritz-Carlton Resort in Orlando to discuss NFL business and potential rules changes. Browns owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam typically speak to the Browns beat writers in attendance at the event. This year, that means more questions about any future stadium deals, as well as the yet-to-be-announced extensions for Berry and Stefanski. Those two also will speak, typically their first chance to talk about any moves over the first 10 days or so of free agency.
April 15: Browns offseason program begins
Phase one of the Browns' voluntary offseason program is permitted to begin on this day. That phase is entirely an off-the-field one, with activities limited to meetings, strength and conditioning, and physical rehabilitation. Phase one lasts two weeks before transitioning to a three-week phase two in late April/early May, which includes on-field individual or group instruction and drills, including walk-through work without offense vs. defense.
April 25-27: NFL Draft, Detroit
The spectacle that is the actual NFL Draft event will be held in Detroit. However, the Browns' important decision-makers will all be in Berea over these three days making decisions on how to improve their roster. The Browns have seven draft picks, but not one in the first round, so they're not likely to be active on day one of the draft. However, they will be on the second and third days.
What draft picks do the Browns have in the 2024 NFL Draft?
Here's a look at the Browns' picks for the upcoming draft, as of Feb. 14:
No. 54 overall (second round)
No. 85 overall (third round)
No. 134 (fifth round)
No. 154 (fifth round)
No. 204 (sixth round)
No. 207 (sixth round)
No. 227 (seventh round)
May 2: Fifth-year option deadline for NFL's draft class of 2021
The first-round picks in the draft class of 2021 must have a decision made on their fifth-year option by this date. The lone Browns player eligible here is cornerback Greg Newsome II, who was the 26th pick in the 2021 draft. OverTheCap.com projects Newsome's fifth-year base salary, for the 2025 season, to be worth $12.166 million based upon playing time criteria established by the Collective Bargaining Agreement. That doesn't mean other members of this draft class for the Browns, specifically linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, couldn't also be targeted to land a contract extension at some point this year.
May 3-5 or, more likely, May 10-12: Browns rookie minicamp
Teams have the option of one of the two weekends after the draft to bring in the rookies for their first real indoctrination into the NFL. The Browns have, over the last two years, typically chosen the second of the two weekends to conduct their rookie minicamp in Berea. The minicamp will feature not only players who were taken in the draft, along with the undrafted free agents, but also a handful of players brought in on a tryout basis.
May 8 or 9, estimated: 2024 NFL schedule release; could Browns end up in Brazil or London?
The exact date won't become known until it's almost there. A year ago, it fell on May 11, right before the Browns' rookie minicamp. A wrinkle to the schedule release is the potential for the Browns to learn one of their games before the full schedule is released. The NFL announced the full slate of International Games last year on May 10, a day before the full schedule came out. The Browns are one of the candidates to open the season on Friday, Sept. 6, against the Philadelphia Eagles in Sao Paulo, Brazil. There's also a chance, if they aren't the Eagles' opening-night opponent, they could be the Jacksonville Jaguars' opponent in a game — likely in October — in London, England.
Browns in Brazil? 4 reasons why Cleveland could open up against Philadelphia in Sao Paulo
Cleveland Browns 2024 road opponents
Philadelphia Eagles
Jacksonville Jaguars
Baltimore Ravens
Cincinnati Bengals
Pittsburgh Steelers
New Orleans Saints
Washington Commanders
Denver Broncos
Las Vegas Raiders
Cleveland Browns 2024 home opponents
Ravens, Bengals, Steelers
Miami Dolphins
Dallas Cowboys
New York Giants
Kansas City Chiefs
Los Angeles Chargers
Week of May 20: NFL Offseason Team Activities begin
The third phase of the NFL's voluntary offseason program starts with the sixth week of the overall program, which is the week starting on Monday, May 20. The phase allows teams to conduct a total of 10 days of on-field organized team practice activity, or “OTAs.” No live contact is permitted, but 7-on-7, 9-on-7, and 11-on-11 drills are permitted. Because the Browns were participating in the Hall of Fame Game last year, they didn't use four of their OTA days and, instead, moved up the mandatory minicamp dates in order to end the offseason program earlier.
June 4-6 or June 11-13, estimated: Mandatory Browns minicamp
The last stage of the offseason program is the three-day mandatory minicamp every team conducts. They typically occur on one of the first two weeks in June. The Browns, with no Hall of Fame Game participation next preseason, may go back to holding their minicamp the second week of June as they did in 2022.
Late July: Browns training camp begins
The exact dates won't come out for a while. However, based on last year, the most likely start date will be around the final weekend of July. The Browns aren't playing in the Hall of Fame, so they won't get the extra week of camp. There also hasn't been any official confirmation of the team starting camp at The Greenbriar in West Virginia as they did a year ago. However, there's been no denial of the possibility either.
Sept. 5: 2024 NFL regular season kicks off, TBD at Kansas City Chiefs
The first game of the season has two guarantees just a couple of days removed from the Super Bowl. One is it will be played at Kansas City. Two is that it won't involved the Browns, who play the back-to-back champions in Cleveland in 2024. So who will the Chiefs' opponent be? Their home games are against the Broncos, Raiders, Chargers, Ravens, Bengals, Saints, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Houston Texans. Could the league pick Jim Harbaugh's return to the NFL with the Chargers as the opponent for Kansas City? How about the Chiefs against the one quarterback still active to beat them in the playoffs, Cincinnati's Joe Burrow? Or an AFC Championship Game rematch vs. Baltimore? Or a juicy storyline involving up-and-comer C.J. Stroud and the Texans? There are several quality options.
Sept. 6: NFL International Game, Philadelphia Eagles vs. TBD at Sao Paulo, Brazil
The Browns could be a part of a little bit of NFL history if they're chosen as the Eagles' opponent for the first NFL game played in Brazil. It's also the first Friday night NFL opener since 1970. Cleveland is one of two Philadelphia home opponents next season to have nine road games — the Steelers are the other — and hasn't played in an International Game since 2017. The other options, beyond the Browns and Steelers, are the Atlanta Falcons, Green Bay Packers, Jaguars, Cowboys, Giants and Commanders.
Sept. 8: NFL opening Sunday of 2024
The first Sunday of the the NFL's regular season kicks off.
Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on X at @ceasterlingABJ
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Cleveland Browns offseason: Important dates, NFL draft, minicamp, more
