The Rams were supposed to be starting organized team activities and hitting the weight room next money, but the coronavirus pandemic has not only pushed back the start date of offseason workouts, but altered them significantly. Instead of the traditional format, teams will be limited to virtual OTAs, primarily focused on classroom work.
It’s an unfortunate situation for newcomers and younger players, but Andrew Whitworth isn’t complaining about OTAs essentially being canceled. At 38 years old, he doesn’t mind the extra time off to let his body recover from last season and to focus on his own personal workouts.
“It couldn’t be a bigger blessing in disguise for me. The opportunity to really just – because you know, you really look at it at my age, it’s specific training, things I know I need to do to get ready,” Whitworth said on The Herd with Colin Cowherd. “A team workout is great but there’s probably things that you have to do to take care of all 50, 60, 70 guys in the weight room that maybe are not the best thing for me at my age that I need taken care of. It gives me the opportunity during this time to honestly just focus on the things I need to be doing and to take care of myself and get ready. And yeah, a little break from OTAs, I’m never complaining anytime I get to take my feet off the practice field a little bit.”
OTAs aren’t mandatory, so Whitworth wouldn’t have been required to attend. However, being the leader that he is, he likely would’ve shown up and helped push the Rams’ younger players on the field and in the weight room.
The Rams wouldn’t have been able to practice on the field until May 4 anyway, which is Phase 2 of the offseason program, but with all the uncertainty surrounding the current state of the world, it remains to be seen when normal NFL activities will resume.
For the time being, Whitworth isn’t complaining about being able to stay home and work out in his garage-turned-home gym.