Seahawks may drop mandatory minicamp to get players to come to longer, voluntary OTAs
The Seahawks’ veteran players have declared they aren’t doing any voluntary workouts this offseason.
Their team is seeking a deal with them to change their minds.
Coach Pete Carroll says Seattle is considering dropping its upcoming mandatory minicamp, the only three days of offseason training at team headquarters required by the NFL collective bargaining agreement, in exchange for the Seahawks practicing for more days of voluntary organized team activities (OTAs) beginning later this month.
“We’re talking to our guys about what our options are,” Carroll said this weekend during the team’s rookie minicamp at its facility in Renton.
Last month, the Seahawks and Denver Broncos were the first teams to say through the league’s players’ union they weren’t doing any voluntary offseason training in 2021. The players saw last year after the coronavirus pandemic canceled all offseason workouts and minicamps the league could and did conduct a successful, highly competitive season without the normal work for players at team headquarters in the spring into summer.
Team owners are trying to ignore that precedent and get back to pre-pandemic normal for offseason training.
Friday in a league memo to teams the NFL told players and staff members if they are fully vaccinated they no longer have to wear masks and take 2020-like safeguards inside team facilities. Masked people can return to pre-2020 access and procedures.
Carroll, 70, did not wear a mask on the practice field during this weekend’s rookie minicamp. He did at every practice and game last year. Carl Smith, Carroll’s 73-year-old confidant who returned in March to the role of Seahawks associate head coach he had in 2018, also did not wear a mask on the practice field this weekend.
Defensive coordinator Ken Norton Jr. and new offensive coordinator Shane Waldron were wearing masks.
ESPN reported Friday the NFL Players Association counts about 15 teams as having changed their offseason schedules after conferring with their players about voluntary workouts and OTAs.
The Seahawks may be another one.
“We are well aware of some of the thoughts that the teams have,” Carroll said. “We are going to come up with our own stuff which we are already talking about, to see if something fits right as we move forward.”
Article 21 of the NFL collective bargaining agreement stipulates the voluntary nine-week offseason program be conducted in three phases. This year that is phase one (April 19-ending Friday), extended from two to four weeks with activities limited to strength and conditioning, virtual meetings, and physical rehabilitation only at team facilities. Seahawks veterans didn’t do those.
Phase two (Monday through Friday next week, which Seahawks veterans have said they are also skipping) has been shortened from three weeks to one. The league says “on-field workouts may include individual player instruction and drills, ‘perfect play’ drills, drills and plays conducted with offensive players lining up across from offensive players and defensive players lining up across from defensive players, with each group permitted to align eleven or fewer players across from eleven or fewer players. Players on one side of the ball may execute a play, but players on the opposite side of the ball may not initiate contact with, or attempt to impede the progress of, players who are running the play.”
All phase-two offseason drills must be conducted at an “acceptable walkthrough pace.” The league defines that as like a Pro Bowl practice.
Phase three of the offseason workout program (May 24-June 18) remains four weeks and includes OTAs and the one, mandatory minicamp. Each team can have up to 10 days of OTAs on the field. No live contact is allowed, but 7-on-7, 9-on-7, and 11-on-11 drills are OK.
The league announced the Seahawks’ OTA dates as May 24, May 26-27, June 1, June 3-4, June 7-10. But the players have said they aren’t coming because OTAs are voluntary.
They’ve been doing Zoom meetings with coaches for weeks, getting into the framework of the playbook via online sessions. That includes Waldron’s new offensive system.
Teams also may conduct in-person meetings and classroom instruction at team facilities in the final offseason phase. As written currently, those meetings and instruction are “subject to COVID-19 testing cadence, tracking, facility access and other protocols.”
The Seahawks and more than half the league’s teams have said they are only showing up for the mandatory, three-day minicamp.
Seattle’s is scheduled to be June 15-17.
“They made a decision early with the information that they had, and they didn’t know what the deal was with Covid protocols. It hadn’t been stated yet from the league,” Carroll said of his veterans. “They made an early decision. They were concerned and wanted to make sure they take care of business and make sure everyone stays safe. I couldn’t have agreed with them more.
“Things are changing rapidly. (Friday) was the big announcement from the league in conjunction with what the CDC said: people who have been vaccinated officially and fully are out of masks. I know you guys can feel that as well. That’s a shift. It’s a shift in your mentality. It changes things somewhat that we have transitioned to this point where things are a little different than they were back then.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen as we move forward. I’m anxious to see next week how all of the teams handle it. I think 21 teams sent a letter in and made a statement that they weren’t going to come to camp. We’ll see what happens and see what’s right.”
As he has throughout the pandemic, Carroll said he’s all for safety and that he hears and supports his players’ concerns.
“I trust our guys,” he said. “They are working at it and they are figuring it out and I know they’re working really hard, and, you know, they’re studying really well. All of our Zoom meetings have been on point and better even than they, really, were last year at this time.
“We’re making progress. We’ll see what happens in the coming weeks.”
This story was originally published May 15, 2021 at 11:17 AM.
