There are a lot of things that will happen between now and when we see the Dallas Cowboys play another football game. As far as the NFL world is concerned there will be things like free agency and the NFL Draft. Looking at it from the top of the sports world we will also see The Masters, baseball return, the NBA playoffs, NHL playoffs, and the beginning of the Olympics.
In a sports offseason with those things as checkpoints, another important one that signals football is close to returning is when the annual season of Hard Knocks kicks off.