NFL announces new offseason schedule for 2014 Draft, Combine

The NFL's new offseason schedule for 2014 is not as drastic as some people predicted.

By Jon Benne@LordBenne May 28, 2013, 12:17pm EDT

The NFL has announced the new offseason schedule for the 2014 season. As expected, they have pushed back the draft two weeks, though the change is not as big as first expected.

The 2014 NFL Draft will be held from May 8-10. The draft is usually held on the last weekend of April, but a scheduling conflict with Radio City Music Hall forced the league to push it back. They were originally looking at the May 15-17 dates, according to Albert Breer, but ultimately decided to push it back two weeks rather than three.

In addition to the draft changes, the new league year and start of free agency will begin on March 11, and the Combine will be held from February 18-25. Breer notes that the league wanted to move the Combine back to March and start the new league year in April, but the NFLPA wouldn't budge on those changes.

At the end of the day, this ends up being a minor change that shouldn't affect the offseason too much, other than an extra two weeks of mock drafts and speculation.