The apparent injury to LB Reuben Foster cast a dark shadow over much of the Washington Redskins’ first day of OTAs, but it should also be noted that several of the star players in Washington were not in attendance.
CB Josh Norman, TE Jordan Reed, OT Trent Williams, QB Colt McCoy, S Montae Nicholson, and RB Adrian Peterson were all absent on Monday morning. We should note here that OTA stands for “Organized Team Activities,” though you could take it as also standing for “Optional Team Activities.”
As a part of the offseason training program, an NFL team is allowed four days of OTAs in order to get their team together and run through sanctioned workouts and drills. It is not uncommon for star players to skip out on these days, whereas they are required by the team to be at minicamp.
There are several reasons why these players might have skipped out on the workout sessions Monday, be it to work out with their own trainers or continue the recovery process for a possible injury. In the case of Colt McCoy, it has been public knowledge that he is still working to get back from a severe leg injury suffered last season, and the team expects to have him back by fall camp.
For many fans, it’s easy to look at the list of players who weren’t present on Monday and get discouraged, but just know that it is common for players to skip out on OTAs.
