Dull Days

The NFL offseason has changed greatly in my nearly forty years of football mania. The Super Bowl was played in mid-January in those days. The Pro Bowl (that game's in jeopardy) was a week later. From then until training camps in July there was essentially a football blackout. Mrs. Flea Flicker would've been so happy. The draft was held in secret compared to the extravaganza of today's NFL. There was no free agency. The sport that we all love today is a whole other beast. When the final whistle blows at the Super Bowl now, the next season starts. College All-Star games, the Scouting Combine, free agency and the NFL Draft. It's wall-to-wall excitement and coverage. Some think that it all dies down after the draft. It really doesn't. Many think that we are now in the dull days of football. We really aren't. With the new CBA, draft picks are signing at an alarming rate. Some teams have signed all of their new, shiny players. That's exciting. There are Mini-camps and Organized Team Activities (OTAs) through early June. Those are exciting too. There's a bunch of stuff now. The Minnesota Vikings even signed a free agent this week, defensive end Nick Reed. That's very exciting. There are dull days in the NFL but these aren't them. No, those dull days start in about a month. From mid-June through early-July things do die down. That's the time between the end of team offseaon activities and the grind of training camp. That's when coaches get their one real break of the football year. In a couple of weeks, you'll have the football dull days. We just have to fight through them.