Let the countdown continue!

The 2024 NFL league year is now headed into its fourth week. Now that we are in the same month as the NFL draft, let’s check back in on the official count down of the number of days to key offseason dates.

Author’s note: I intentionally waited one day into April to do this countdown so there would be no question to the authenticity of the dates.

0 days: The Continuation of Free Agency

Although the 2024 league year officially kicked off on Wednesday, March 13, there are still plenty of opportunities for teams to continue to add to their offseason 90-man roster.

13 days: Offseason Workouts

Monday, April 15, 2024 is the first day teams with returning head coaches, like the Steelers, can begin their offseason workout program. Teams with new head coaches may begin two weeks earlier. The Steelers have previously announced Phase I of offseason will begin on this date which consists of voluntary strength and conditioning workouts.

17 days: Deadline for RFA’s to sign offer sheets

Any restricted free agent must sign any offer sheet from another team by Friday, April 19, 2024. After this date, RFA’s can only sign with the team which offered them a tender. The Steelers did not offer an RFA tender to any of their restricted free agents.

23 days: NFL Draft

The 2023 NFL draft will be held in Detroit, Michigan, beginning on Thursday, April 25 and continuing through Saturday, April 27. The Steelers are scheduled to have their allotted picks in the first three rounds. The Steelers have an additional pick at the end of the 3rd round and one pick in the fourth round. The Steelers finish off the draft with two picks in the 6th round for a total of seven scheduled selections. The exact picks the Steelers are scheduled to make can be seen below:

Getting closer 🙌 pic.twitter.com/HhyVsdQXCy

— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) April 1, 2024

30 days: 5th-year Option Deadline

Teams have until Thursday, May 2, 2024, to exercise or decline the fifth-year options on players selected in the first round of the 2021 NFL draft. The Steelers have two players on their roster who they could exercise the option in Najee Harris (approximately $6.79 million) and Justin Fields (approximately $25.664 million).

At this time, these are the only league dates agreed upon for the NFL calendar by the NFL and the NFLPA. If the two sides agree on a schedule similar to past seasons, the estimations will be as follows:

~37 days: NFL Schedule Release

The last three years the schedule came out after the NFL Draft. If the release is like 2022, it will come 14 days after the first night of the NFL draft, which would be Thursday, May 9, 2024.

~38 days: Rookie Minicamp and OTAs

Based on the 2023 offseason schedule, Steelers rookie minicamp began the second Friday of May. If they keep the same schedule, the first day would be Friday, May 10, 2024 and go through Sunday, May 12. The other option for the Steelers would be to hold rookie minicamp exactly one week earlier.

49 days: OTAs

The dates for the Steelers OTAs, part of Phase III of offseason workouts, have been announced with things getting started on Tuesday, May 21, 2024. After the 10 dates for OTAs, the Steelers are scheduled to have three days of mandatory minicamp starting on Tuesday, June 11. The full schedule can be seen below courtesy of Steelers.com:

The following is the full OTAs schedule:
Tuesday, May 21 – OTA #1
Wednesday, May 22 – OTA #2
Thursday, May 23 – OTA #3
Tuesday, May 28 – OTA #4
Wednesday, May 29 – OTA #5
Thursday, May 30 – OTA #6
Monday, June 3 – OTA #7
Tuesday, June 4 – OTA #8
Wednesday, June 5 – OTA #9
Thursday, June 6 – OTA #10

Steelers Mandatory Minicamp
Tuesday, June 11– Day 1
Wednesday, June 12 – Day 2
Thursday, June 13 – Day 3

104 days: Franchise Tag Signing

In past seasons, any player who was designated with a franchise tag must have a signed contract by 4 PM on July 15. After this date, the player can only play under the tag for the season. The Steelers did not use the franchise tag in 2024.

111 days: Transition Tag Signing

Any player who is designated with the transition tag must have a signed contract from another club by 4 PM on July 22. After this date, only the team who issued the tag has exclusive negotiating rights. The Steelers did not use the transition tag in 2024.

~113 days: Training Camp

Although the Steelers will not officially announce the start date of training camp until the preseason schedule is set, they generally report the middle of the final week of July. With the Steelers not playing in the Hall of Fame Game, the fist day of training camp will not be earlier than the rest of the NFL and looks to be about July 24, 2024.

121 days: Hall of Fame Game

This date won’t be as significant to the Steelers for 2024 as they are not scheduled to play in the Hall of Fame Game, which kicks off the weekend on Thursday August 1, 2024. The Hall of Fame activities will be over the course of the weekend from the game Thursday through Sunday with the 2024 enshrinement scheduled for Saturday. The game on Thursday will be between the Houston Texans and Chicago Bears.

128-131 days: First Week of Preseason Game

If the NFL follows the same format they established in 2021-2023, which have been the years with only three preseason games, they would still be scheduled to play in the first full week of preseason games somewhere between Thursday, August 8 and Sunday, August 11, 2024.

142-145 days: Last Preseason Game

If the NFL follows their schedule from the last three seasons, the final preseason games for all teams will be between Thursday, August 22 and Sunday, August 25.

147 days: 53-man Rosters

The last three seasons where the NFL had a 17-game schedule, the final roster cut down date was the Tuesday following the final preseason games. If they stick to the same schedule this year, the date would be Tuesday, August 27, 2024.

156 days: NFL Kickoff Game

Thursday, September 5, 2024 will be the first game of the NFL season if things proceed as normal. Barring a horrendous scheduling conflict much like that in 2013, the game will be played in Kansas City. Since the Steelers play the Chiefs at home in 2024, they should kick off three or four days later on either Sunday, September 8 or Monday, September 9. One previous possibility was playing on Friday night, September 6 in Brazil as it will be a home game for the Philadelphia Eagles, one of the Steelers road opponents this season. But the Steelers have not been informed they are playing out of the country and the reported opponent for the Eagles will either be the Packers or the Browns.

313 days: Super Bowl LIX

Super Bowl LIX is scheduled to be played on February 9, 2025 at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana.