The Pittsburgh Steelers are in the midst of their voluntary OTAs, but come 2025, OTAs may be a thing of the past. According to Tom Pelissero of NFL Media, the NFL Players Association is looking to overhaul the offseason and eliminate voluntary on-field work, such as OTAs, and instead hold a longer training camp, with players reporting as early as mid-June.
End of OTAs? The NFL Players Association is working to finalize a proposal to overhaul the offseason starting as soon as 2025, eliminating voluntary on-field work in the spring in favor of a longer training camp ramp-up, with players reporting in mid-June to early July, per… pic.twitter.com/nQa9TmKCGO
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) May 28, 2024
That would obviously be a big change, but it would allow for more time doing meaningful work in training camp versus OTAs where not everyone participates and full contact isn’t fully allowed, even in Stage 3 with players practicing on the field multiple times a week.
Per Pelissero, the “majority” of players support the change, and the NFLPA is expected to put together a formal proposal this summer. Given that offseason work rules are collectively bargained, the NFL would have to agree to any change, so even if it’s something the players want, the NFL is going to have to see the benefit in it as well.
The big change would be giving players one big chunk of time off from on-field work. With the way things are structured now, players have over a month off from the time OTAs and mandatory minicamp wrap up from the time they report to training camp. One longer chunk of time off may be better to help their bodies recover and continue to get healthy instead of starting on-field work with OTAs and then having another big chunk of time off.
Pelissero clarified that even though players would be reporting for camp early, the ramp-up to on-field work would be similar to OTAs, with strength and conditioning and non-padded activities leading into a traditional training camp, just without the break in between as we have with OTAs as they’re structured now and training camp. So what the Steelers traditionally have for OTAs would be similar, just with a different date and likely taking place at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, Pa.
This is certainly an interesting development, and we’ll see how things go as the NFL and NFLPA negotiate. If the NFLPA truly believes there are health benefits, it’s hard to see the NFL disagreeing with the change. The league is always looking to make the game safer and prevent injuries if possible (at least, that’s what it says), so it might be a bad look to play hardball if this is something the players want.
