The NFL and NFLPA have agreed to an altered scheduled for teams’ offseason programs. Teams can begin their offseason programs as early as next Monday, April 20, but will be limited to a virtual setting until every team in the NFL can open its team facilities.
The initial report came from NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero.
The NFL and NFLPA have reached agreement on a voluntary offseason program for 2020, starting next Monday, April 20, per sources. The “virtual period” can begin next Monday, April 20, but — this is key — no on-field work until all 32 club facilities can reopen.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) April 13, 2020
Teams who have a new head coach can begin on the 20th and have a four-week Phase 1 that includes a virtual minicamp. All other teams can begin either the 20th or the 27th but are allowed three weeks in the first phase.
The second phase of offseason work can begin on May 18. At this point, on-field work will be allowed, but only if all 32 teams can open their facilities.
All teams get a three-day voluntary minicamp, but those teams with a new head coach get two. The rules for these virtual minicamps are no more than two hours of virtual classroom work and a limit of two-hour virtual workouts.
On June 26, all offseason workout programs end.
This time frame does not yet include OTAs or mandatory minicamp.
One main thing is the league maintains the desire to have a level playing field and only opening team facilities once all states with teams allow them to be opened.
The Cardinals originally would have begun the first phase of their offseason program on the 20th.
Head coach Kliff Kingsbury already anticipated much of this and spoke about it in a video conference with reporters last week. “We’re going to do the Zoom meetings when we’re allowed to and do every sort of tele-coaching that we can come up with,” he said.
The Cardinals have not announced yet whether they will begin on the 20th or the 27th.
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Ep. 263
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Ep. 262
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