The NFL is making a significant change to the offseason calendar for the 2027 season.
Tom Pelissero of NFL Media reports that the free agent negotiating window will open on March 9 next year. That is the same date that the two-day window opened this year, but the change comes in how close it will be to the end of the Scouting Combine.
NFL teams will wrap up their examinations and interrogations of incoming prospects on March 8 in 2027, which moves the league away from having a week or so between the two events as they have in past years.
Under that setup, the Combine has always been rife with table-setting for free agency as agents and team executives are all in the same place with their minds on the same things. With that gap eliminated, there will likely be even more of that work being done in Indianapolis so that teams are ready to make moves right from the starting gun.
Cardinals tight end Trey McBride is signed through the 2029 season, so he has good reason to be interested in who will be doing the quarterbacking in Arizona over the coming years.
Jacoby Brissett and Gardner Minshew are the veteran options heading into 2026, but Brissett’s absence from most of the offseason program left plenty of work for Minshew and third-round pick Carson Beck. The prospect of striking gold with Beck is an appealing one for the Cardinals and McBride was asked for his early impressions of the rookie during an appearance on Bussin’ With the Boys.
“He’s huge. He looks like a tight end,” McBride said. “I’m like s—t, bigger than me, you know? But, no, he’s a stud. He throws the ball really well. I think he has a chance to be a really good player in this league. . . . I don’t know about Week 1 unless something crazy happens, but he definitely has a chance to be a guy for sure.”
The Cardinals took running back Jeremiyah Love in the first round this April and they’ll have a core that involves Love, McBride and Beck in place for several years if everything can break their way this fall.
Cardinals tight end Trey McBride respects the Seahawks, but doesn’t like them.
Asked on Bussin’ With The Boys which NFC West rival he dislikes the most, McBride picked Seattle, saying they’re a good team in a good stadium, which makes Seattle a difficult place to play.
“To be honest, I think it’s Seattle,” McBride said. “That’s a tough place to play. Their defense is a bunch of shit talkers. They have a really good team, too, so I feel like every time we go to Seattle it’s such a hostile environment. Lumen Field is such a cool place to play, and they’ve gotten the best of us the last couple times, so it would be nice to get back on the winning side.”
Asked if the Seahawks’ defense locked him up, McBride pushed back on that. When the Cardinals played at Seattle in Week 10, McBride had nine catches for 127 yards and a touchdown in a 44-22 loss.
“I don’t know about locked me up, I went for like 130, but we lost,” McBride said.
Although McBride personally has had a couple of big games in Seattle, the Cardinals are 0-8 against the Seahawks in McBride’s four seasons in Arizona.
The NFC West won more games than any other division in the NFL last season, but the Cardinals didn’t do much to contribute to the effort.
Arizona went 3-14 while the Seahawks, Rams and 49ers each won at least 12 games while advancing to at least the divisional round of the playoffs. The Seahawks beat the Rams in the NFC title game before winning the Super Bowl, so it wasn’t just regular season success for the division.
The Seahawks have most of their core players back while the 49ers hope to be healthier and the Rams have loaded up for another run by trading for Myles Garrett and Trent McDuffie this offseason. The Cardinals, on the other hand, have a new head coach in Mike LaFleur, an uncertain quarterback situation and low expectations to make a move up the standings in 2026.
During an appearance on SiriusXM NFL Radio, Cardinals cornerback Will Johnson said he loves the chance “to go against the best every week” and that he sees it as a chance to upset those expectations.
“I think we got a good opportunity in front of us to surprise a lot of people this year,” Johnson said. “They’re just continuing to try to stack the teams against us, but we gonna be ready when the time comes.”
Johnson credited LaFleur with doing a good job of establishing a new culture around the Cardinals and the hope is that leads to improvement on the field even if the overall circumstances mean that they might have the same view of the rest of the division come the end of the year.
The Cardinals will open training camp at State Farm Stadium on July 22.
The first of seven practices open to fans will happen two days later, on Friday, July 24. Five of the open practices are scheduled for 4 p.m. PT.
An exclusive practice for season-ticket members will take place as part of the league-wide “Back Together Weekend” on Aug. 2.
The final open practice on Sunday, Aug. 9 will be the annual red/white practice.
While parking and admission are free, digital tickets are required for entry. Tickets can be reserved by visiting www.azcardinals.com/camp.
The Cardinals have four preseason games, headlined by the Hall of Fame Game in Canton, Ohio, on Aug. 6.
