NFL Scouting Combine timing provides added Free Agency intrigue

The timing of the NFL Scouting Combine this year will provide some added intrigue in free agency. Will more trades be made in 2017?

The annual NFL Scouting Combine is always a great time for the brains behind the operations of most NFL franchises to chat, collaborate, and talk about the future of their respective organizations. With this year’s unique (late) timing of the Combine, those talks could have significantly increased tension or urgency.

The televised portion of the Scouting Combine will begin next weekend, starting March 3rd on NFL Network. The work at the Combine goes through March 6th, which is the day prior to the ‘legal tampering’ period in NFL Free Agency.

That means, not only are NFL teams going to be working long hours interviewing the large number of prospects that will be at the Combine — recording measurements, and adding to their scouting profiles — but they will be in the final stages of preparing recruiting pitches for prospective free agents from other teams.

Teams and agents will likely be talking a lot at the Combine as usual, but perhaps more so than in the past. The Scouting Combine is usually in mid-late February, but I can’t remember a time when it extended into March and I’m not overly certain of the reason for the timing this year. I certainly can’t recall a time where the Combine nearly intersected with the start of free agency.

Whatever the reason(s), it’s going to be critical for NFL executives and decision makers to have their ducks in a row. Teams need to have their top 51 players under the salary cap, which means that over the course of the next two weeks, we will be seeing a lot more roster moves.

The late timing of the Scouting Combine is most intriguing this year because I think we could see more trades agreed upon than usual. As we all know, deadlines spark action, and the closer we get to March 9th, the closer teams will be to executing their offseason strategies, at least a major part of them.

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Because of those deadlines and the way things seem to always work in the NFL, clubs could be doing a lot more talking about trades at the Combine because they will have a much better idea of what in-house free agents are thinking in terms of their future.

Here’s a quick overview of the up-coming calendar for the NFL:

February 28th-March 6th: NFL Scouting Combine

March 7th: NFL clubs can contact and negotiate with unrestricted free agents of other NFL clubs, but no deals can be finalized.

March 9th: At 4PM ET, NFL clubs can finalize contracts with unrestricted free agents from other NFL clubs (New League Year begins). Trades agreed upon can also be finalized.

We’ve already seen the Miami Dolphins and Jacksonville Jaguars agree to a couple of trades this offseason, and we could certainly hear about a number of other moves forthcoming. Some big names are expected to be potentially on the trade block this offseason, and the Combine should be the site of many major deals discussed.

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