Texans & 49ers offseason calendars

The first real dates of the 2026 season are not games at all. Houston’s first offseason phase starts April 20, and San Francisco’s full spring program also opens April 20, which puts both teams on the field three days before the National Football League draft begins on April 23 in Pittsburgh. (houstontexans.com) (nfl.com) (operations.nfl.com) That timing is the point of the league’s offseason calendar. The National Football League says the voluntary nine-week program is split into three phases, so coaches can start with meetings and conditioning before they get to organized team drills and a mandatory minicamp. (operations.nfl.com) (nflpa.com) In Phase One, players are not out there running full football practice. The rules limit the first two weeks to meetings, strength work, conditioning, and rehab, which makes this stretch closer to a team-wide reset than a spring scrimmage. (operations.nfl.com) (nflpa.com) Houston’s calendar shows how compressed this can be. The Texans start Phase One on April 20, then move to organized team activities on May 27 through June 4, and hold mandatory minicamp from June 9 through June 11. (houstontexans.com) (nfl.com) San Francisco’s schedule is front-loaded the same way, but with more of the full program already mapped out. The 49ers are one of the clubs opening April 20 under the league calendar, and their spring work leads into the same Phase Three window that allows organized team activities and then a minicamp before summer break. (nfl.com) (operations.nfl.com) (49ers.com) The key restriction is contact. The National Football League Players Association says no live contact is allowed in organized team activities, and even helmets only show up later, so these weeks are for installs, timing, and conditioning rather than the kind of hitting fans see in August. (nflpa.com) That is why these dates matter before a single draft pick is made. Coaches can teach returning players the base language of the 2026 playbook first, then plug rookies into a system that is already moving when the seven-round draft starts April 23 and runs through April 25. (operations.nfl.com 1) (operations.nfl.com 2) The Texans’ own update makes that sequencing obvious. Houston highlighted April 20 for Phase One, then pointed straight to the draft three days later, then to organized team activities in late May and mandatory minicamp in early June, which is basically the team’s spring roadmap in one line. (houstontexans.com) For the 49ers, the calendar lands in a year when the club is already framing the offseason around roster construction. The team’s official offseason page ties the spring dates to contract deadlines, free agency, and the draft, and the club currently holds six picks heading into the 2026 draft. (49ers.com 1) (49ers.com 2) (nfl.com) So the practical story is simple: April 20 is when the paperwork and roster talk starts turning into reps. Houston and San Francisco are both entering the part of the year where strength staff, coaches, veterans, and eventually rookies all start building the next season in small pieces long before Week 1 shows up. (houstontexans.com) (nfl.com) (operations.nfl.com)