The Bills, Patriots, and Colts were among the teams to kick off the “virtual period” of their offseason program on Monday. A total of twelve NFL teams opted to start online sessions today, but only the aforementioned teams will have virtual workouts on the agenda, according to NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero and Mike Garafolo (on Twitter).
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As Garafolo notes (via Twitter), those three teams are requiring the workouts in order for players to receive their workout bonuses. The Bills have upwards of $3MM in workout incentives going to their players, including $250K for defensive linemen Mario Addison, Star Lotulelei, and Jerry Hughes. The Patriots have less tied to workout bonuses, though wide receiver Julian Edelman is personally on the books for $300K this year.
Soon, the rest of the NFL will follow suit with online OTAs. These sessions obviously can’t replace on-field drills and gym time, but teams have no other choice.
If circumstances allow for a full season this year, it’ll be interesting to see how injuries factor into things due to the unusual offseason. I’m sure every NFL team will be monitoring closely to see.
I think this is a clustermuck waiting to happen. How can the NFLPA possibly protect a player who claims he suffered an injury in virtual workouts? The owners certainly aren’t going to make good on any claims their team doctors can’t verify.