NFL Players Association officials would like to dramatically modify the format of the NFL’s offseason program.
The members of the NFLPA’s executive board have been working on a proposal that would call for the start of the offseason program to be pushed back from mid April to either late June or early July, according to a person familiar with the deliberations. The person declined to speak publicly on the matter because the NFLPA had yet to finalize such a proposal.
The goal centers on the desire for players to have a longer offseason/initial recovery window. Then players would return to team facilities to begin training and then ramp back up gradually to roll into training camp in late July.
NFLPA executive director Lloyd Howell, who is nearing the completion of his first year on the job, and members of the executive committee have spent time studying the offseason and preseason ramp-up windows of other sports. Recognizing the way MLB opens spring training and then rolls right into the regular season, the NFLPA leaders wondered if they could come up with a football-specific format that drew similarities to baseball’s approach.
Union leaders believe that a later start and continuous ramp-up would lead to more offseason recovery, improved health entering the season and fewer early training camp injuries caused in part by the current format, which features spring practices, a break beginning in mid-June and the start of training camp in late-July.
There are other factors — including how an earlier start would impact family time both on the parts of players and coaches — that the NFLPA is still examining while working toward its proposal.
It’s unclear how receptive owners and team presidents would be toward an OTA modification. According to two sources, Howell has spent the last year traveling to meet with owners and general managers with the goal of discussing a number of aspects of player working conditions, including offseason training programs. It’s also unclear when the NFLPA would present such a proposal to the NFL, and how quickly owners would move to vote in favor of or against it.