New NFL Season Starts Today – March 13

Do you know what today is? It’s the start of the 2024 NFL season. Wait…what? Yes, today, March 13 is the official start of the 2024 NFL season. The league turns the page on its preceding season and begins a new year every March. Today is that day.

In addition to starting a new NFL season, today is also the first day that teams can officially sign free agents. You may have heard reports of players joining new teams. While all of the negotiations can take place a little early, teams cannot officially sign a free agent to a new contract until today, the official start of the new NFL season.

Important Dates for the 2024 NFL Season

Obviously, today is an important day in the 2024 NFL season. The annual league meetings will be held later this month. Owners and team representatives of the 32 NFL teams will meet in Orlando on March 24-27. 

The beginning of April marks the first day that teams with new head coaches can begin offseason workouts. Teams with coaches already in place begin their first workouts of the new NFL season on April 15. 

The NFL draft will be held beginning on April 25 and running through April 27. This year’s draft will be held in Detroit. Rookie minicamps will then be held during the first two weeks of May.

Free Agent Moves to Kick Off the 2024 NFL Season

A number of key free agent moves will kick off the 2024 NFL season. In one of the biggest moves, former Minnesota QB Kirk Cousins signed a new four-year, $180 million deal with the Atlanta Falcons. In response to that announcement, the Vikings signed Sam Darnold who was the backup in San Francisco last year. Darnold signed a one-year contract that could pay him as much as $10 million.

There have been plenty of quarterback moves, including Cousins, Darnold, Jacoby Brissett, and more. There have been some big moves already this new NFL season at other positions as well. DT Chris Jones isn’t going anywhere as he re-signed with the Kansas City Chiefs. Jones’ new contract is for five years and is worth $160 million.

Carolina DE Brian Burns was traded to the New York Giants for a second-round pick in the draft this NFL season and another fifth-rounder next year. RB Derrick Henry will change teams this NFL season and be in Baltimore next season. Henry will earn $16 million over the next two seasons with the potential to make $20 million. Check out Sports Hub’s free agency roundup. 

Got Wins? Sports Hub Does

Wins and more wins. That’s what Sports Hub handicappers do. They did it yesterday again. Sports Central and Sports Investors, two of our partners in the industry, put up solid days at the window to earn the top two spots on our Daily Leaderboard.

If you’re getting ready for the upcoming NCAA tournament, you should definitely take a look at Sports Hub cappers like SWJ Sports, which hit 6 of 7 college basketball picks yesterday. Knup Sports, who also made our top-5 yesterday, hit 7 of 10 NCAAB picks.

The bottom line is that if you enjoy cashing winning betting tickets, Sports Hub can help. The best handicappers in the world are right here in a community that brings bettors and handicappers together. Need a basketball capper? We’ve got ‘em. Handicapper for the NFL season? Yep, those too. Whatever you’re looking for you can find at Sports Hub in our fully searchable database.

Let’s check on yesterday’s results.

• Sports Central: Apparently you needed to have “sports” in your name to be in the Sports Hub top three yesterday. Kicking it off was Sports Central, which hit on all four of its picks and took home $505. That included a great call on the Buffalo Sabres -1.5 at +205 odds over Detroit in the NHL. Sports Central is up $871 for the week now.
• Sports Investors: Next on the board was Sports Investors, which also went 4-0 and racked up $430 in winnings. That makes it $730 over the last three days and $1000 for the week. Over the last three days, Sports Investors is 7-0. For the week…13-3!
• Knup Sports: Another capper with “sports” in the name, Knup Sports put in 27 picks yesterday. They went 17-10 and earned $415. That gives them an eye-opening $1938 (36-18) over the last three days. 

• Sports Hub experts: Rounding out the top five were two Sports Hub experts – Tonny Ricci and Seth Cohen. If Seth’s name sounds familiar, it’s because he’s been in and around our top five for several days. Both Seth and Tonny went 4-1 yesterday. Tonny edged out Seth $291 to $290 in profits. Seth is now No. 2 on the overall 30-day leaderboard with $2044 in profits. SWJ Sports leads with $3516. Just more examples of the performances of our expert handicappers.

Tracking Free Agency in the New NFL Season

With the first day of the new NFL season, it’s no surprise that there are tons of free agent moves to track. There are some running backs getting paid today! Read more below. 

There is also some interesting news out of New York where AL Cy Young winner Gerrit Cole is the focus. Also, could a current NFL quarterback really become the Vice President of the United States. What?

Check this out.

• Cole might miss Opening Day start: Gerrit Cole might miss his Opening Day start. Cole has an issue with his right elbow. He had an MRI on Monday, but a prognosis is not imminent. Cole has started the past four Opening Days for the Yankees.
• Rodgers a potential VP?: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced that current New York Jets QB Aaron Rodgers is on a short list of potential running mates in Kennedy’s run for the presidency as an independent candidate in the 2024 election.
• RBs getting paid: Four big moves to start this NFL season include some RBs that are getting paid. Saquon Barkley signed a three-year deal worth $37.75 million. Josh Jacobs signed with Green Bay for four years and $48 million. Tennessee locked up Tony Pollard for two years and $24 million and Austin Ekeler moves over to Washington on a two-year, $11.43 million deal.

• March Madness: Sometimes the Four Factors Model comes up even. Last night in the Horizon League championship, favorite Oakland came into the game with a better Effective Field Goal percentage and a better turnover rate than opponent Milwaukee. The Panthers had the better free throw and offensive rebounding rates. In the end, it would Oakland that would prevail, 83-76. The Grizzlies covered the 4-point spread and earned the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

Conference Tournaments Heat Up Today

More conference tournaments start up today, which just happens to be the first day of the 2024 NFL season (like you didn’t know by now!). The remainder of the power conferences begin their tournaments today and there is plenty of NBA and NHL to keep bettors busy.

Here is a look at today’s schedule.

1. Pac-12 starts tournament: For the final time, the Pac-12 will hold its annual college basketball tournament. Four games are on the schedule, starting with USC and Washington at 3:00 p.m. ET. 
2. Big Ten begins tourney: The Big Ten tournament also gets underway with two games. Maryland plays Rutgers and Michigan battles Penn State.
3. Big East tournament gets underway: The Big East tourney has three games tonight. Villanova plays last-place DePaul and needs a strong performance in the tournament to have a shot at the Big Dance.

4. SEC tournament starts: There are two games in the SEC tourney tonight. Arkansas faces Vanderbilt and Missouri takes on Georgia.
5. ESPN NBA doubleheader: Among the nine NBA game today is the ESPN doubleheader. Denver is at Miami in the early game scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET. Tonight’s late game is in Sacramento where the Kings will host the Los Angeles Lakers.
6. NHL doubleheader on TNT: Speaking of doubleheaders, the NHL has the Kings and Blues in St. Louis beginning at 7:30 p.m. ET. Game 2 of the doubleheader has Washington at Edmonton. There are only four games on the schedule tonight.
7. Premier League match: AFC Bournemouth plays Luton Town in a Wednesday Premier League match. 
8. Champions League, Champions Cup: The rest of the international soccer schedule is dominated by Champions League and Champions Cup play. Check the Sports Hub picks database to find winning soccer picks from our experts like Geovanny Araya.
9. Spring training: The Yankees may be without Cole to start the season and Aaron Judge is also injured, though it doesn’t appear to be serious. There is a full slate of spring training games today.
10. Round 4 at Indian Wells: More Round 4 tennis action in the BNP Paribas Open is scheduled today for both the men and women. 

That’s today’s schedule. As always, check the Sports Hub member area for the best picks in the industry for tonight’s games. If you’re not a member, do yourself a favor and join now for free. You’ll gain access to some of the best sports handicappers in the entire world. Plus, you’ll get to see a bunch of our daily free picks. Enjoy today’s conference tournament games and check back in tomorrow for more great content and a recap of our picks.