Report: Cardinals players, team agree to trim OTAs down from 10 to 3
May 24, 2021, 4:10 PM | Updated: May 25, 2021, 7:07 am
Arizona Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury during rookie minicamp Friday, May 14, 2021, in Tempe, Ariz. (Tyler Drake/Arizona Sports)
(Tyler Drake/Arizona Sports)
Numerous groups of players issued statements regarding the NFL’s planned workout schedule this offseason and how they would not attend in-person, voluntary workouts for their health and safety.
The Arizona Cardinals players were not one of them.
Instead of posting a statement, they worked out a deal with the team’s leadership internally. The MMQB’s Albert Breer provided some insight Monday behind the Cardinals players’ decision.
The Cardinals’ players eschewed putting out a public statement like so many of their peers did in early April — and instead sent a letter to Kingsbury and GM Steve Keim to explain their point of view. From there, quietly, the players and Kingsbury (and his staff) hammered out a deal that worked well for everyone.
So now, the Cardinals are in working together toward the season, under conditions that everyone had a hand in crafting. That’s a win for the players, for sure. But it also has to be a win for the coaches and the team too—to have everyone in and good with working under the conditions agreed to.
The Cardinals originally mapped out their 10 allowed OTA workouts dates for May 25-27, June 2-4 and June 7-10.
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Instead of the planned 10 OTA practices, the two sides agreed to hold just three.
As of Monday afternoon, the Cardinals’ new OTAs schedule was not yet known. The team also had not yet had any media availabilities outside of rookie minicamp.
It appears the trend is taking shape across the NFL, with Breer noting that 22 teams reporting to offseason programs “after players came to terms with coaches to either reduce the number of weeks in the program or, absent that, reduce the daily on-field workload.”
The league is currently in Phase 3 of its offseason schedule.
