The Official Site has this handy Off Season Calendar to keep you up to date on what's crappening in the NFL. Here are the dates to keep an eye on:

Wednesday February 21st-27th -- Scouting Combine begins and runs through the 27th. I'm highly critical of the (over) emphasis placed on the various statistics gathered from the combine, but view it as a necessary evil. You can find more detailed information on the combine here. Monday February 26th and Tuesday February 27th are the big days; Monday for Linebackers and Defensive Linemen whereas DBs go at it on Tuesday. We're looking to draft a pass rushing linemen, a defensive back, and perhaps an ILB.

Thursday February 22nd -- Deadline for Transition and Franchise tags. Click on the words for detailed, flawless Wikipedia explanations of those two terms. Off the top of my head, Asante Samuels is one of the players that might get Franchised (meaning we can't get him... which really wouldn't be the end of the world, in my opinion).

Thursday March 1st -- Exclusive Rights and Restricted Free Agency deadlines. We'll have to tender minimum offers to our Exclusive Rights players by this date (Derrick Frost, Jim Molinaro, Ryan Boschetti, Vaka Manupuna, and Manuel White Jr. according to THN). We need to get Dockery under contract by then, or else he'll hit the open market and we might lose him forever.

Friday March 2nd -- Free Agency and Trading Season begin. For Redskins fans this is when shit meets fan. For Redskins Bloggers this is when Carpal tunnel syndrome cripples us for life.

Sunday March 25th-28th -- Owners meet in Sunny Arizona to golf and perhaps discuss rule changes. It has been rumored that really the meeting is an excuse to go on a 'killer' camping trip where the 32 owners hunt down depressed vagrants, just like in that kick ass Ice T movie. Probably awkward for Matt Millen, as he realizes that within a year or two he could go from hunter to hunted. Dare you to draft a Wide Receiver, Matt.

Friday April 20th -- Restricted Free Agency over.

Friday April 27th -- Deadline for RFA's former team to say "Not yet, beyotch!" Also known as "right of first refusal to restricted free agents."

Saturday April 28th-29th -- My girlfriend threatens to dump me as I regress into little more than a caveman, mindlessly grunting at my TV as I inexplicably watch two days worth of draft coverage when 20 minutes of post-draft recap will suffice. Fairy Tale Ending: I get (keep!) the girl and the Redskins trade down, picking up a 2nd and 3rd round pick, turning all three day oners into Defensive Starters (DE, ILB, and DB in that order).