Washington head coach Ron Rivera stated in April he expected to have “most” of his team in town for the team’s voluntary offseason program, specifically the OTAs.
He was right. Washington had 86 of the 91 players on the roster present for the first day of on-field workouts on Tuesday. The most notable absences were defensive ends Chase Young and Montez Sweat and offensive tackle Charles Leno. Leno remains in Chicago with his wife after the recent birth of their second child.
Rivera isn’t concerned with any of the absences because, as he stressed, these workouts were all voluntary.
That doesn’t mean the coach isn’t pleased with those who did attend. He was so happy, he gave his players an extra week off.
Coach Rivera was pleased with how week one of OTA’s went. So much so that he has canceled the 3rd week and moved Mini-Camp up. This gives guys an extra week off before TC. #WashingtonFootball @WashingtonNFL
— Julie Donaldson (@juliedonaldson_) May 27, 2021
Now, instead of having the third — and final —week of OTAs on the week of June 8-10, Rivera moved Washington’s minicamp to that week, canceling the third week of OTAs.
Washington’s minicamp is mandatory for all players.
This is another reason why players love and trust Rivera. The outstanding attendance for the voluntary OTAs impressed the head coach. He was proud of the attendance. So, he rewarded them.
And now, the players get an extra week off before training camp with the minicamp moved up.
