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NFL teams aren’t hosting OTA practices like they normally would around this time of year but it sounds like there’s still some hope for minicamps taking place next month. At least, that’s what this report from Charles Robinson of Yahoo! Sports suggests.
With state governments eyeing an entry point for NFL franchises to resume offseason activities, sources tell Yahoo Sports that head coaches could return to team facilities as early as next week — with players potentially following in full-squad minicamps in mid to late June.
The sources told Yahoo Sports that if coaches resume their in-house work next week, minicamps including players could be scheduled as early as June 15 or as late as June 27, depending on COVID-19 data and whether a handful of franchises get a “go ahead” signal from state governments to resume full operations.
Resuming full operations and getting a minicamp scheduled would represent the league’s biggest step to date toward keeping the 2020 NFL season on track for a regularly scheduled fall kickoff.
This report hardly guarantees minicamps will happen. There are still a number of obstacles to be cleared.
NFL and union negotiated/announced an end date to the offseason program of June 26, which gave them added flexibility. They've discussed having players back, on a voluntary basis, for a week in June to test protocols.
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) May 26, 2020
But staging an actual minicamp = a different level than that. https://t.co/qJTsfDwzDl
Players: our union has not agreed to any reopening plan. Any reports about coming back to work are hypothetical. You will hear from the NFLPA when there are new developments.
— JC Tretter (@JCTretter) May 26, 2020
Here’s @NFLprguy on the potential return of players to team facilities. pic.twitter.com/XnKh8pVLPA
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) May 26, 2020
Minicamp is normally a three-day window that marks the end of a team’s offseason workout program. Unlike OTA practices, minicamp attendance is mandatory. It remains to be seen if that’ll still be the case given the unusual circumstances this year. It’s also unclear if there will be typical media access and such.
In any case, it’s encouraging to see that there’s some discussion about things returning to normal ... relatively speaking. We’ll just have to wait and see if this plan actually goes through or not.