Less than two months since the Kansas City Chiefs won Super Bowl 57, the road to Super Bowl 58 begins.
The Carolina Panthers and Indianapolis Colts kick off their NFL offseason programs Monday, while the Arizona Cardinals, Denver Broncos, and Houston Texans all get underway Tuesday.
And by April 24, all 32 teams will be back to football activities, laying the groundwork for training camp — which will be here sooner than you think.
NFL Offseason Program Storylines
The NFL offseason program is a three-phase, largely voluntarily ramp-up regimen. Phase One, which lasts two weeks and begins this week for teams with new head coaches, is limited to meetings, strength and conditioning, and physical rehabilitation.
Phase Two, which runs three weeks, allows for on-field individual and group drills and full-team walkthroughs.
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Then the program wraps up with four weeks of Phase Three, which is when the real practicing gets going — with 10 days of organized team practice activity and each team’s one mandatory minicamp.
While live contact is banned for the entire spring offseason program, 7-on-7, 9-on-7, and 11-on-11 drills are permitted during this final phase.
Ongoing Lamar Jackson Drama
Again, all but three days of the offseason program are mandatory, but players unhappy with their contract or role with their teams often skip those voluntary sessions to send a message.
That’ll be the case in Baltimore, where Lamar Jackson has yet to sign his $32.4 franchise tender and (unless that changes) will not be present when Ravens players report next week.
Jackson went public with his trade demand a few weeks back, but not much about his situation has changed since. While Jackson appears to be thrilled by the Ravens’ decision to sign Odell Beckham Jr., the fundamentals of his contract situation are unchanged.
His only real leverage in this impasse is to withhold his services.
Since he hasn’t signed that tender, he is not formally part of the team and is thus banned from participating in team activities. That, of course, might be the point for Jackson, who surely realizes he might have to sit out the entire 2023 to force his way out of Baltimore.
Adding to the drama? Ravens GM Eric DeCosta suddenly isn’t saying anything about Jackson, declining comment when pressed at his pre-draft news conference.
“I understand the need to ask those kinds of questions,” DeCosta said. “I think — just out of respect for the process — this is a draft luncheon, and we’re going to try to keep as much of this discussion as we can to the draft, to the coming weeks [and] building the best football team we can build.
“So, I understand those questions. I think we’ve spoken about this situation probably five different times this spring in various different press conferences and such. So, we’re going to try to just kind of defer to those questions and move forward to the draft.”
The likeliest outcome to this saga is that Jackson plays for the Ravens in 2023 and beyond, but in case Plan A falls through, the Ravens will need to pivot to Plan B: a quarterback room that includes Tyler Huntley, Anthony Brown, and (presumably) a draft pick.
Jordan Love Time in Green Bay
Out in Wisconsin, the situation is flipped. The Green Bay Packers no longer want their franchise QB but haven’t yet been able to get the compensation that they want from the New York Jets for Aaron Rodgers.
Still, the smart money is this deal gets done — and presumably before the NFL Draft in two weeks. The Packers surely don’t want to wait until 2024 for those draft picks, and Rodgers could just retire if he doesn’t get what they want. That would mean the Packers would get nothing instead of something.
For their part, the Jets still believe this gets done, as evidenced by GM Joe Douglas’ crowd-pleasing proclamation that Rodgers is “gonna be here” at a recent radio event.
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Regardless of when Rodgers gets moved, the Packers have already moved on at quarterback. Jordan Love will be the clear-cut QB1 when players report on April 17.
Love has thrown just 83 regular season passes since the Packers took him 26th overall in the 2020 NFL Draft.
And while the real evaluation won’t come until the games begin, this is still an important time for Love. He has until early May to convince the Packers to exercise the fifth-year option on his rookie contract.
Familiar Faces in New Places
A reminder, in case you’ve forgotten:
Sean Payton is now head coach of the Denver Broncos.
Jimmy Garoppolo plays for the Las Vegas Raiders, and Derek Carr is a New Orleans Saint.
All three begin their next career chapters in the coming days. Payton’s Broncos report Tuesday, while Garoppolo and Carr can report next week.
The biggest names of the 2023 offseason (beyond Rodgers and Jackson, of course) are expected to do big things during the 2023 regular season.
History suggests not all will. And perhaps none of these franchise-altering moves work out.
But Payton, Garoppolo, and Carr all get the fresh start that they wanted.
Wide Receivers on the Move?
Odell Beckham Jr. has been trying to get a job for close to six months. Will this be the week it finally happens?
He reportedly plans to meet with the New York Jets on Monday. If Beckham is finally healthy after tearing his ACL 14 months ago and Rodgers indeed ends up in Gotham, the Jets will instantly become one of the league’s biggest curiosities.
Meanwhile, the Cardinals will probably want to have some clarity on DeAndre Hopkins’ future with their team. Will Hopkins, who is on the trade block but for now remains a member of the Cardinals, show up when the Cardinals report Tuesday? Stay tuned.
Trey Lance’s Big Chance
Trey Lance was one of three quarterbacks to start games for the NFC West champion San Francisco 49ers in 2022.
But with Garoppolo gone and Brock Purdy just a month removed from elbow surgery, San Francisco’s spring practices will belong to Lance, who is entering Year 3 with big-time question marks.
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Lance, in his first two seasons, has thrown just 102 passes (completing 56 for 797 yards, five touchdowns, and three interceptions).
The physical gifts are obvious. But can he put it together?
He’s trying. Lance spent part of the offseason working out with Patrick Mahomes and will have Kyle Shanahan’s undivided attention beginning April 17.
