Los Angeles Rams 2016 Dates

Here are key dates on the NFL calendar for the Los Angeles Rams.
Feb. 7: Super Bowl 50
Feb. 8: Waiver system begins for 2016
Feb. 13: Regional combines, Houston Texans Methodist Training Facility, Houston, Texas
Feb. 16: First day for clubs to designate Franchise or Transition Players
Feb. 23-29: NFL Scouting Combine, Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, Indiana
March 1: Prior to 4 p.m., Eastern time, deadline for clubs to designate Franchise or Transition Players
March 5: NFL Regional Combines, Minnesota Vikings Training Facility Max Winter Park, Eden Prairie, Minnesota.
March 7-9: Clubs are permitted to contact, and enter into contract negotiations with the certified agents of players who will become Unrestricted Free Agents upon the expiration of their 2015 Player Contracts at 4 p.m., Eastern time, on March 9. However, a contract cannot be executed with a new club until 4 p.m., Easter time, on March 9.
• Prior to 4 p.m., Eastern time, clubs must exercise options for 2016 on all players who have option clauses in their 2015 contracts.
• Prior to 4 p.m., Eastern time, clubs must submit qualifying offers to their Restricted Free Agents with expiring contracts and to whom they desire to retain a Right of First Refusal/Compensation.
• Prior to 4 p.m., Eastern time, clubs must submit a Minimum Salary Tender to retain exclusive negotiating rights to their players with expiring 2015 contracts and who have fewer than three accrued seasons of free agency credit.
• Top-51 Begins. All clubs must be under the 2016 salary cap prior to 4 p.m., Eastern time.
• All 2015 player contracts expire at 4 p.m., Eastern time.
• The 2016 league year and free agency period begins at 4 p.m., Eastern time.
• Trading period for 2016 begins at 4 p.m., Eastern time, after expiration of all 2015 contracts.
Annual Meeting, Boca Raton, Florida.
April 4: Clubs that hired a new head coach after the end of the 2015 regular season may begin offseason workout programs.
April 18: Clubs with returning head coaches may begin offseason workout programs.
April 22: Deadline for Restricted Free Agents to sign offer sheets.
April 28-30: 2016 NFL Draft, Chicago, Illinois.
April 30: After the final selection in the Draft has been made, clubs may begin signing Undrafted Free Agents who were eligible for the 2016 Draft.
May 6-: First weekend after the NFL Draft: clubs may elect to hold their one three-day post-draft rookie minicamp from Friday through Sunday or Saturday through Monday.
May 9: Rookie Football Development Program Begins.
May 13-16: Second weekend after the NFL Draft: clubs may elect to hold their one three-day post-draft rookie minicamp from Friday through Sunday or Saturday through Monday.
May 19-22: NFLPA Rookie Premiere. Invited Rookies (typically, first and/or second-round selections) must be permitted by their respective clubs to attend. Such players are unavailable for offseason workouts, OTA days, and minicamps during this period.
May 23-25: NFL Spring League Meeting, Charlotte, North Carolina.
June 1: Deadline for prior club to send “June 1 Tender” to its unsigned Restricted Free Agents who received a qualifying offer for a Right of First Refusal Only in order for such player to be subject to the CBA’s “June 15 Tender” provision.
June 2: For any player removed from the club’s roster or whose contract is assigned via waivers or trade on or after June 2, any unamortized signing bonus amounts for future years will be included fully in Team Salary at the start of the 2017 League Year.
June 15: Deadline for club to withdraw qualifying offer to Restricted Free Agents and still retain exclusive negotiating rights by substituting “June 15 Tender” of one-year contract at 110 percent of the player’s prior-year Paragraph 5 Salary (with all other terms of his prior-year contract carried forward unchanged).
June 19-25: Rookie Symposium, Aurora, Ohio.
July 15: At 4 p.m., Eastern time, deadline for any club that designated a Franchise Player to sign such player to a multiyear contract or extension. After this date, the player may sign only a one-year contract with his prior club for the 2016 season, and such contract cannot be extended until after the club’s last regular season game.
• Clubs are permitted to open preseason training camp for rookies and first-year players beginning seven days prior to the club’s earliest permissible mandatory reporting date for veteran players.
• Veteran players (defined as a player with at least one pension-credited season) other than quarterbacks or “injured players” (as defined in CBA Article 21, Section 6) may report to a club’s preseason training camp no earlier than 15 days prior to the club’s first scheduled preseason game or July 15, whichever is later.
• Veteran quarterbacks and injured players may be required to report to the club’s preseason training camp no earlier than five days immediately prior to the mandatory reporting date for all other veteran players, provided the club has already opened (or simultaneously opens) its official preseason training camp for all rookies and first-year players.
• A three-day acclimation period will apply to players who are on a Club’s roster up to and including the mandatory veteran reporting date. Players who join the roster after that date may practice (including wearing pads) and play immediately after passing a physical.
July 22: Signing Period ends for unrestricted Free Agents to whom a “May 10 Tender” was made by prior club. After this date and until 4:00 p.m., New York time, on the Tuesday following the 10th weekend of the regular season, prior club has exclusive negotiating rights.
July 22: Signing Period ends for Transition Players with outstanding tenders. After this date and until 4:00 p.m., New York time, on the Tuesday following the 10th weekend of the regular season, prior club has exclusive negotiating rights.
Aug. 11: First preseason games
Sept. 11: First regular season game
Final preseason and regular season dates and opponents to be announced in April
Oct. 23: Los Angeles Rams vs. New York Giants, Twickenham Stadium, London, UK

Peyton Manning: Is He Done!?

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- If Peyton Manning is going to walk off into the sunset following the Denver Broncos' Super Bowl 50 victory, the decision will take a backseat to celebration.

Manning was noncommittal regarding his future plans in a post-game interview with CBS' Tracy Wolfson.

"I'll take some time to reflect. I got a couple priorities first," Manning said. "I'm going to go kiss my wife and kids. I want to hug my family. I'm going to drink a lot of Budweiser tonight, Tracy, I promise you that. I'm going to take care of those things first. Definitely got to say a little prayer to thank the man upstairs for this great opportunity. I'm just very grateful."

Manning later told CBS' Jim Nantz that is heeding the advice of former Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy, who cautioned against making an emotional decision in the heat of the moment.

Few Hall of Fame quarterbacks are fortunate enough to go out on top. Manning has an opportunity to join Broncos general manager John Elway as the only members of that exclusive club after a unique 2015 season which saw the 39-year-old quarterback transition from perennial MVP candidate to fading liability to injured backup and, finally, to postseason game manager.

The Super Bowl 50 victory gives Manning a winning postseason record (14-13) and a pair of Lombardi Trophies. He joined Norm Van Brocklin as the only quarterbacks to win NFL championships with two different organizations. Van Brocklin was the original Elway, retiring after his 1960 title with the Philadelphia Eagles.

"It's just awesome because he was on a team that could help him get a win," coach Gary Kubiak said after the game. "He didn't have to go out there and do it all on his own and he knew that. I told him that I watched John Elway win a championship with 120-something yards passing, and he got one today with about a 100 and something yards, too. I'm just so proud of him."

Few qualities trump perseverance in professional football.

Only one of 32 teams can win the Super Bowl, which means each year ends in disappointment for 97 percent of the NFL's players, coaches and front office executives. The game itself batters and bloodies its combatants, shortening their seasons as well as their careers.

Two months ago, all signs pointed to an ignominious end for Manning. Instead, he persevered in the face of a nagging plantar fascia tear and the embarrassment of being unceremoniously demoted for the first time in his legendary career.

Manning knows it took a fluky C.J. Anderson fumble to unseat Brock Osweiler in the regular-season finale. He understands the Broncos' 194 yards of offense on Sunday were easily the fewest ever by a Super Bowl winner. He might be holding out faint hope for the fountain of youth, but he still realizes his battle-worn body was a liability in converting just one of 13 third downs versus the Panthers.

Through all of that adversity, he can find satisfaction in avoiding back-breaking mistakes while watching two of the NFL's greatest quarterbacks implode in the AFC Championship Game and the Super Bowl.

Manning famously carried a team with one of the worst defenses in football to a Super Bowl XLI Colts victory. Surely he can relish the fairytale ending of hitching his wagon to a star-studded defense in the final act of a storied career.