The NFLPA has reached a victory of sorts in their pushback against players attending voluntary workouts and OTAs. Teams have been willing to modify their off-season programs in order to get most of their player’s attendance for at least some sort of work-out or OTA like activity. These concessions made by NFL teams have led to high attendance rates in the camps where a new plan has been agreed upon. Some teams are seeing 70 plus players attend the newly negotiated portion of their workouts.
NFLPA President J.C. Tretter wrote about the topic on Tuesday, saying that that less than half of NFL players attended the four-week Phase I “and players on more than half the teams in the league have negotiated new rules for the remaining voluntary workout periods.’’
He went on to talk about how team leaders have been able to get the program shortened to nine weeks, decrease the workload and intensity by lowering the number of practices, converting them to walk-throughs and doing away with 11-on-11s.
The Browns have agreed to an all-virtual Phase I and Phase II of the program for veterans, but plan to have an in-person Phase III which is comprised of 10 on-field OTA practices over the next three weeks, starting next week.
Despite the Browns willingness to adjust their off-season program, which was already collectively bargained and agreed upon, Tretter says he plans to stay away. He told Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated’s Monday Morning Quarterback that he and most of teammates will still not attend the voluntary practices because the leadership council believes “most guys feel good about where they’re training at and what they’re doing.”
What that means for the Browns ability to practice in the coming weeks depends on who shows up and who stands by Tretter. Having the President of the NFLPA has complicated things for the Browns and now could affect their progress as a team. The Browns have a ton of new faces, especially on the defensive side of the ball and surely would benefit from 10 OTA practices, if at the very least just to get acclimated with the system and coaching staff.
