One of the ripple effects of the NFL’s move to adopt a 17-game schedule hits the Detroit Lions hard this spring. The league moved back the start of the offseason workout programs, or OTAs, to April 19th for all teams.
Normally a team with a new head coach, like the Lions and Dan Campbell, gets an extra minicamp for returning players as well as a two-week head start on OTAs to help get caught up to the rest of the league. But that has gone away, according to a memo from the NFL disseminated by Good Morning Football on the NFL Network.
Coach Campbell appeared to anticipate the change. During his press conference on Monday, Campbell stated,
“Here’s the beauty of it. Everybody in the league has to fall under the same rules. That’s the bright side to all of this is like, OK, well, we’re all kind of the same in that regard.”
All OTAs will remain virtual and not in-person under league COVID-19 protocols.
