It’s beginning to look like a more normal NFL offseason in 2021. OTAs are underway and players in most cities are back and in person, including the Detroit Lions at the team’s training facility in Allen Park.
The return to normalcy will really kick in when training camps begin. And now we know when that will happen.
Per Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network, 29 of the 32 team training camps will kick off in unison on Tuesday, July 27th. It’s the first day camps can begin as dictated by the collective bargaining agreement. The teams playing in the Week 1 opener on Thursday night (the Buccaneers and Cowboys) will open on a different date.
In addition, Pelissero notes the league plans on having fan activities and events for the first Saturday of camp, which is July 31st. Fans will be allowed to attend Lions training camp, barring any changes to the state of Michigan’s planned ending of all COVID-19 restrictions on July 1st. The Lions are still finalizing the exact details of fan access and some changes from past years could still be implemented.
The NFL expects no restrictions on attendance to games in 2021, as well.
In past years, teams opened training camps on their own schedule. Most teams typically kicked off within a three-day period in late July, but this year represents the first time the league has standardized the beginning of training camp.
For the first time, the NFL will have a unified start to training camp, with 29 teams set to report Tuesday, July 27 — 47 days before the Sunday of Week 1, as allowed by the CBA — and plans for league-wide practices and fan events Saturday, July 31.
Midsummer Madness, anyone?
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) May 25, 2021
