Do you smell that? It's football, and it's coming back. Soon.
The Patriots announced on Wednesday that their offseason program will begin on April 18, and the team laid out a schedule for key dates in May and June.
There will be three sets of OTA sessions, including eight total practices. The first set of OTAs will take place on May 23, 24 and 26. The second will run from June 1-2. The third takes place on June 13, 14 and 16.
Mandatory minicamp will take place from June 7-9.
Members of the media will have access to practices on each day of mandatory minicamp. Those covering the team will also have access to one practice during each of the three sets of OTA sessions.
The next time reporters will be back at Gillette Stadium will be April 19 to chat with Patriots director of player personnel Nick Caserio about the upcoming draft.
The team announced that there will be other media-availability periods that have not yet been scheduled. Typically rookie minicamp occurs soon after the draft. This year's draft will take place from April 28-30 so that could take place some time in early May.