Key NFL offseason dates include the draft, free agency, and the 2024 franchise tag window.
Over the next four months, the Colts’ 2024 roster will take shape, with several significant NFL offseason dates approaching. What you should know from now until May is as follows:
Senior Bowl practices and game (Mobile, Ala.) January 30-February 2.
Clubs have the option to designate franchise or transition tag players between February 20 and March 5, at 4 p.m. ET.
Teams are limited to using one tag (either a transition tag or a franchise tag) per year.
Based on the average of the top five salaries of players at his position from the current season, the exclusive franchise tag forbids a player from negotiating with any other team.
The team that placed the non-exclusive franchise tag on the player has the option to match the offer or receive two first-round picks in exchange for allowing the player to sign with the other team. However, if the player is signed to an offer sheet by another team, the team that placed the tag on him is not allowed to negotiate with other teams. A player who receives a non-exclusive tag is paid the mean of the previous five years’ top five salaries for his position.
Teams may match any offer sheet a player signs as an unrestricted free agent by using the transition tag. On the other hand, the team that signs the player does not pay them if they choose not to match the offer sheet.
Punter Pat McAfee was the last player the Colts used the franchise tag on in 2013.
NFL Scouting Combine, Indianapolis, Feb. 27–March 4.
From March 11 (noon ET) to March 13 (3:59 p.m. ET), clubs may negotiate with the agents of other teams’ unrestricted free agents. During what is known as the NFL’s “legal tampering” window, contracts may be agreed to but not executed.
On March 13, at 4 p.m. ET, the NFL league year officially starts, and all unrestricted free agents are free to sign deals with other teams. Additionally, trades agreed to before March 13 at 4 p.m. ET can be executed. Unless they are tagged before 4 p.m. ET on March 5 or sign contract extensions before 4 p.m. ET on March 13, the following Colts players will become unrestricted free agents:
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BOZEMAN — Former Montana State football players have signed reserve/future contracts with three NFL teams.
The teams announced on Monday that wide receiver Lance McCutcheon signed with the New York Jets and edge rusher/linebacker Daniel Hardy signed with the Chicago Bears. The Indianapolis Colts signed offensive lineman Lewis Kidd on Tuesday. Kidd attended MSU with Hardy and McCutcheon.
Hardy and McCutcheon were on their respective teams’ practice squads at the end of the 2023 season. Both of them were cut following training camp in 2023 despite making the Los Angeles Rams’ 53-man roster as rookies in 2022 and 2023.
Kidd was cut by the Colts in December following a couple of months on the practice squad. He was cut by the New Orleans Saints before the start of the current season in 2022 while he was a rookie.
NFL players are only eligible for reserve/future contracts if they are not on 53-man rosters at the conclusion of the regular season. Players who sign those contracts become a part of a team’s 90-man roster in March, when the league season starts, and those agreements do not count against a team’s salary cap. By the beginning of each season, teams have reduced their rosters to 53 players.
At the end of the regular season on Sunday, three former Bobcats were listed on 53-man rosters: defensive back Ty Okada of the Seattle Seahawks, inside linebacker Troy Andersen of the Atlanta Falcons, and ILB Alex Singleton of the Denver Broncos.
Not making it to the postseason were the Bears, Jets, Colts, Falcons, Seahawks, and Broncos.
