Next up on the offseason calendar: Schedule release

Now that the NFL draft has come and gone, there's one key date left on the league's offseason schedule. Even if we don't know what that date will be.

The schedule release is coming. In May. When in May, we don't know.

Last year, the full regular-season schedule was released on Wednesday, May 14. In the preceding days, a handful of games were announced by the various broadcast partners.

That makes the week of May 11 the most likely target for the 2026 schedule release, as to the entire slate of 272 regular-season games.

Like every year, the "who" and the "where" of every game became known the moment the prior regular season ended. The formula is tied to division membership (six games), the AFC-NFC full-division rotation (as to eight games), and final finish in each team's given division (three games). But the "when" remains a mystery, for all but two games.

To date, the league has announced that the Rams will "host" the 49ers in Melbourne on Thursday, September 10 (Friday, September 11 at the site of the game) and that the Cowboys will "host" the Ravens in Brazil on Sunday, September 27. As to the other 270 games, nothing has been announced.

The act of adding the "where" to the "who" and the "when" will be a major sports story, overshadowing the other major sports that are, you know, playing games. It's another tangible example of the extent to which the NFL stands out in the American sports landscape.

We've suggested in the past that the league could, and perhaps should, make it a multi-day exercise, with the prime-time games unveiled on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of schedule-release week and the rest of the games announced on Thursday. Why not commandeer the full week, instead of taking over only one day?

The experience has now been supplemented by a competition among the teams to come up with the best and most creative schedule-release videos. Some teams do it better than others, with the Chargers typically having the most edgy and humorous offering. As a result, some teams have arguably pushed the limits, to the point where it makes sense for the league office to sign off on any videos that could become problematic once they debut.

That could be a particularly good idea this year, for any team that has the Patriots on the schedule. Especially the Chargers, who are indeed slated to host New England in 2026.