NFL to Release Preseason Schedule Thursday Afternoon

NFL free agency has died down from the its initial frenzy  and we’re in an offseason lull where the news isn’t flowing in as rapidly as it was, and we’re still too far away from the NFL Draft to start making final predictions about how things will stack up. But this doesn’t mean there isn’t news, as the NFL is giving fans one of the most anticipated days of the year: the official release of the NFL schedule — preseason edition.

The real release everyone’s waiting for, the release of the regular season slate of games, won’t come until later this month so if you’re holding out for when you’ll know the dates of games in 2013, you’ll have to wait. But the preseason schedule release is at least a sign that better things are soon to come, as once the schedule is released, it only means we’re that much closer to the release of the regular season schedule and the real fun begins.

In case you’re wondering who you’re team will play in the regular season, the list of opponents for teams is already set. The only thing everyone is waiting on is for the NFL to schedule to games properly and to their liking. Already the NFL scheduling committee is getting some serious backlash as the Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens are going to be forced to open the season on the road, instead of traditionally kicking off their defense of a championship at home.

Also, because of NBC’s ‘Flex-Scheduling’ clause, we won’t technically know the full schedule until later in the season, as the network as free reign to request certain games in the latter half o f the year.

But all of that is still to come, but football fans love the sport they worship and any information about what 2013 will look like will be welcomed with open arms — even if it’s just a slate of games that are essentially meaningless.