All NFL teams wrapped up their offseason training schedule this week with mandatory mini-camps. Several teams had those offseason-ending mini-camps last week. Actually, all 32 teams except the St. Louis Rams wrapped up their offseason training schedule with mandatory mini-camps. The Rams have done things a little differently under head coach Jeff Fisher and general manager Les Snead. All teams, but the Rams, bring in their rookies for a little training right after the draft. The Rams prefer to give the rookies a chance to come in, learn how the team wants things done and then mix with the veterans. The other 31 teams do that as well. They just work with the rookies as soon as they can and then let them mix with the veterans. All this really means is that the Rams get a later start than their competitors. It also means that the Rams offseason schedule runs out before they can hold a mandatory mini-camp. That's right, no mandatory mini-camp in St. Louis. Under Fisher and Snead, the Rams have also signed all of their draft picks at once. One mass signing. It's actually quite remarkable and looks real impressive on the transaction page. With today's easy, rapid draft pick signings, the mass Rams signings are done after many of the other teams have been signing picks for a month. The reason for the later signings is because the Rams put their rookies through financial lessons to give them a glimpse at their soon-to-be-realized wealth before they give them that wealth. Fisher has even backed in a truck packed with cash to show these youngsters what a whole of of cash looks like. To truly understand something, sometimes it's best to actually see it. This is cutting-edge, new age stuff. If Fisher and Snead can lead the St. Louis Rams to a Super Bowl triumph, all 31 of their competitors will start doing the very same offseason thing. Enough about the Rams.
The new Collective Bargaining Agreement has scripted the entire offseason. A long list of "do's" and "don'ts." This year, teams could start their offseason workouts April 21. Teams with new head coaches could start a few weeks earlier. The offseason program is a three-phase process. Strength and conditioning is the first phase. Only strength and conditioning coaches can be present. The coaches show up for the second phase. They can do some football stuff. No helmets. No contact. The third phase is better known as the Organized Training Activities (OTAs). Ten days of workouts. Pretty much the only freedom given to the teams by the CBA is the scheduling of these ten days of workouts. For most teams it's 2-3 days each week from the last week of May to the middle of June. Helmets. No contact. Teams can install some of the offense and defense, get familiar with schemes, run through plays. Teams with new head coaches also get an extra voluntary mini-camp prior to the start of the OTAs. While teams can get a lot done in a few weeks the restrictions are numerous. The CBA has even gone so far as to limit what players can do on non-practice days during the offseason program. In the words of the CBA:
"Players may be (1) at the Club facility no more than four hours per day, no more than four days per week, and not during weekends; and (2) on the field no more than ninety minutes per day. In addition, the Club may not specify to any player more than two specific hours a day during which it suggests that the player be at the Club facilities."
It sounds like Minnesota Vikings rookie quarterback Teddy Bridgewater is pushing the limits of the CBA.
The NFL has been a year-round affair for so long that it's difficult to imagine a time when it wasn't. Teams used to close up shop when the season ended. There really was an offseaon. Players used to go to their second job. Now they can afford to be just football players. Now teams expect those football players to earn some of that money in May. Now we have an offseason that really isn't and a CBA that restricts it. The only real break in the NFL's offseason starts now. It lasts about a month.
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