The road to the 2026 regular season begins in early April as the Cleveland Browns kickoff their first offseason program under new head coach Todd Monken.
While the process of building out the Cleveland Browns roster rolls on for general manager Andrew Berry, Todd Monken is preparing to oversee his first-ever offseason program as the franchise's head coach.
With Monken being a new hire, the Browns are given a two-week head start on beginning their offseason work. The program unfolds in various phases and is totally voluntary up until mandatory minicamp in June.
For Cleveland, phase one of the program will begin the week of April 6, with Monken and several players speaking on Wednesday, April 8.
The full offseason schedule is as follows:
April 21 – Voluntary veteran minicamp
April 23-25 – NFL Draft
May 8-9 – Rookie minicamp
May 20-22 – First Session of OTAs
May 26-28 – Second Session of OTAs
June 2-5 – Third Session of OTAs
June 9-11 – Mandatory veteran minicamp
TBD – Training camp
The NFL's entire offseason program is essentially broken up into three different phases before teams break for summer and then gear up for training camp.
Phase one of the offseason program follows some very specific rules that teams must follow via the collective bargaining agreement between the NFL and the NFLPA, starting with the fact that the sessions are only allowed to last four hours each day.
Of those four hours, only 90 minutes can be spent on the field and is limited to strength and conditioning activities with only strength and conditioning coaches being permitted on the field.
Clubs are also only permitted to specify two hours for players at the facility, with the players choosing the other two hours for weights.
A three-week window known as phase two follows and has similar perimeters, except all coaches can be out on the field, and individual and “perfect play” drills allowed. No offense vs. defense, one- on -one or helmets, however, are permitted.
Phase three encompasses those three different sessions of OTAs, which consist of 10 total practices and six hour days. No pads, except protective knee and elbow pads are permitted and players can wear helmets. Team can run 7-on-7, 9-on-7 and 11-on-11 drills. There's no live contact.
The offseason program concludes with mandatory minicamp, where the same rules apply from phase three. The week starts with players undergoing physicals, followed by three days of practice, with a day off on Friday.
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