voluntary workouts ota phase three this
is where it's practice we're talking
about practice we are it's practical and
it's practice where
offense and defense
get implemented yeah they get installed
definitely they do a lot of the work now
so they can hit the ground running in
training camp a lot of value in the
offseason program there is so it's
voluntary
it's voluntary fine i understand it's
voluntary you don't have to show up and
i support
players when they choose for whatever
reason to not show up because it is
voluntary and if you want me to be there
make it worth my while
give me a big workout bonus let's go to
the bargaining table let's let's make
these practices mandatory and let's get
something in exchange for it but don't
expect me
to show up and do stuff that i'm not
paid to do last year there was a lot of
guys a lot of guys led by tom brady one
of the biggest voices telling players
don't show up
so when
when they don't show up it's still
newsworthy we're not trying to shame
them into showing up but when for
example
kyler murray isn't there for the
cardinals and he's got a contract issue
that is still unresolved
you don't just ignore it
you say hey it's voluntary
but it's also significant when the
quarterback of the team isn't there
that's right
yeah it is we're not we're not saying
he's doing anything wrong no we're just
saying what he's doing no that's right
you know you know you you talked about
like you know they're not paid to be
there right i mean okay yeah i hear you
but they are being paid to do everything
they can to be in the best possible
shape and ready to go for the season
and to me that this is a part of it now
i know i don't look at it and go oh man
he missed a day or two and oh no that's
trouble or whatever but there is
importance to what you're talking about
you know the mental aspect of the game
getting the body moving doing all of
that sure
there's definitely value in that i i
understand guys missing sometimes hey
there's family things sometimes you know
maybe oh i might want to you know a new
contract and i'm kind of talking about
that but i'm not 100 healthy yet so let
me you know are not quite totally in
shape yet so let me buy myself another
week or two before i show up so they
don't see me that way there's a lot of
things there but to your point there's
first off there's not a lot of practice
time in the nfl anymore and this is
valuable time you can say what you want
yeah tom brady can get away with it well
okay yes you're 22. and we know he's in
a practice and do the things the right
way behind the scenes you know for the
rest of these guys
um
i don't know if they're quite as
professional as brady yet and i think
there's still a lot of growth with some
of these young guys that i question why
are you missing otas i want to go tom
brady was not missing otas in year three
he definitely wasn't doing that he was
there like front and center hand you
know
feet on the ground yes coach no coach oh
let me write a note you said this so
that's where i do think there's value
especially in your early years as a
player in the nfl
but the bottom line is they are
voluntary i know and that's that's the
balance that the players have to strike
and and again if you want to make it
worth their while offer them money to be
there or make it mandatory and for the
folks who would agree with a lot of what
you said that they should be there
because they're laying the foundation to
get paid later they should be there
i mean
that that's that's all well and good i i
i think there may be some folks out
there but let me let me hear here's my
point yeah because we just finished the
draft a few weeks ago
and and i i here's here's the folks who
i think may need to check themselves the
ones who would be very staunch
it's voluntary as voluntary quit talking
about it why are you talking about it's
volunteers volunteer it's voluntary i
bet a lot of those same folks are the
ones who have no problem with
the incoming draft picks being forced to
do all this stuff under the guise of a
job interview it's just a job interview
it's just a job interview it's a
three-month job interview where you
gotta do all this crap
and you don't get paid for any of it
it's an honor and a privilege right so
there's a subset there's an intersection
of the fans out there who will say it's
voluntary it's voluntary lay off them
they're starving don't you know they
don't have to be there all but it's you
know for the three months that these
incoming players are expected to do all
sorts of crap it's no big deal so the
bottom line is i think any time you're
exerting effort above and beyond what
you're required to do
there should be some
you're doing it for the benefit of
somebody there should be some benefit to
you beyond it's good for you well there
should be something beyond it well just
like but i i get it but but
there is benefit first off that they are
paying you to be a part of the
organization and practice is part of
football i mean i don't like what the
off season is not free it's not required
i i understand it's not right per diem i
get it i get it yeah i get it well
that's because yes now we've got into
players rights and there's only so many
hours and all that but damn i mean it's
still part of the game as being you know
practicing and being ready to go i mean
for kylo murray specifically yes there's
no direct check that's going into his
bank account right now but he wants to
make 45 million dollars a year and be
that kind of quarterback and and be that
guy well
you know hey being there with your guys
you know maybe learning the new things
in the offense getting your you know
feet on the ground compared to like what
you're talking about you know now as
compared to training cam that might give
you the head start you need to come out
of the gates play the way you want i
don't know i just think there's still
great value in all of it and i don't
think it could be replicated easy
outside the building it is a special
team or group of circumstances that can
really replicate that
two points
before we get to some of the specific
guys who aren't there this year number
one and i'm going to forget them because
as i've been sitting here it's like what
are those two points again here you go
right i'm down yep go ahead number one
number one
we say this every year but keep this in
mind guys are going to work out anyway
you're much better off working out yes
in the building right because you have
insurance if you're in the building
right you drop a weight on your foot you
have some other freak injury you get
paid for the full year
right right you know yeah if you you get
injured away from work and you're juwan
james arbitration still pending between
james and the broncos over working out
on his own the question is did the
broncos supervise his activities enough
that they owe him as if it happened in
the building well if you're in the
building you never have to get to that
in the building you get your money the
other point is this before 2011
the offseason program was a lot
more lengthy definitely tailed yes
intense right 70 to 80 percent of the
offensive and defensive playbooks were
installed during the off-season program
definitely really allowed a lot of
fine-tuning and preparation
for the start of the season what do we
see now the first few weeks of the
season when do you want to catch the
patriots you want to catch them early
because bill belichick hasn't had a
chance to really work his magic yet
offensive line play not where it needs
to be defense not where it needs to be
they get better as the season goes on
because they don't have the same reps
before week one that they used to have
and the reason that happened plain and
simple
nfl had the financial package that it
was going to cram down the union's
throats because the you the union got a
great deal in 2006
the nfl was determined to turn the
tables financially in 2011. so when the
time came for the union to cry uncle and
the union started asking for stuff that
didn't cost anything
like reduced padded practices in season
right reduced uh two a days in training
camp reduced off-season program the
owners just looked around like does that
cost us anything no we actually saved
some money okay fine what's this cost is
you want that it costs us nothing fine
you want that it'll get you to agree and
it doesn't cost us anything fine and
they agreed to all this stuff that makes
it harder for the coaches to get their
teams ready yeah harder to get the
coaches ready and listen i i think it's
it's still not good for the players i
don't first off the off-season program's
not that grueling it's not you know
again it's football you're gonna have to
work out we know that but you know it's
football all right and you're in the
building it's you know
7 7 30 in the morning
most days you're out of there by 12 30 1
o'clock in the afternoon and you do it
all again and you're only going four
days a week you're not even going five
days a week in the nfl at this point
it's usually monday tuesday wednesday
off thursday friday or teams go monday
through thursday and then you get the
three day weekend a la crescent style
nbc sports so that's where you know it's
not it was never you know again yes yes
football it's gruden's coaching me and
stuff but i never was like oh man i'm so
exhausted and the other thing i would
say mentally ready to your point when
training camp came i just went i feel
really good i mean i know he's gonna add
some stuff but man i remember those
coaching points and the things he said
and you know physically
you know i gotta think there's some
correlation to injuries and things again
you're getting on the field you're doing
what you do you're getting used to the
movements of oh i'm playing a db and i'm
getting getting the body used to those
movements that are then so abruptly
going to be thrown upon you you know
late in july as compared to the guy
who's you know oh i've worked out a
little on my own and i've done some
drills with my buddy who plays high
school football down the street oh wait
now it's time for the nfl and i gotta i
gotta cover terry mclaurin and oh my
gosh i gotta turn on another gear oh i
pulled my hamstring oh really no shocker
and to me that's where i think there's
value as far as the physical aspect as
well to get the body ready for the nfl
season
so if i understand you correctly it
would be voluntary if you were to show
up on friday but it also would be good
for you so maybe you should show up oh
that's this is for football players it's
not for okay not for talking on nbc but
i do think now you know and i'm sorry go
ahead go ahead
i i well no go ahead make your point i
was going to say i was just going to say
there you know there is a lot of
research and i think we hit on this last
year
where
teams are starting to realize
and there's people in the nfl that know
this already that the teams that start
to go
we're going to be on the field only for
an hour and we're not going to practice
that much and we're going to do it four
days a week getting ready for the sunday
those teams they're starting to see are
the teams that are getting hurt more on
sundays because they're not doing enough
of getting the body ready for wait we're
going to be sitting there playing
football for three and a half hours on a
sunday they're finding the teams that
actually do stay on the field it doesn't
need to be grueling the whole time but
are out there for two plus hours two and
a half hours that emulates the game a
little bit more those teams are the ones
that are staying healthier as compared
to the teams that are going we're
getting off our feet and we're only on
the field for 40 you know an hour and
we're out of here and i think that's
just an interesting aspect sorry i just
had to bring that up
coaches have to be very careful about
what they can and can't say because
baked into the cba is the idea that
coaches can say nothing to suggest that
the voluntary workouts are anything but
voluntary and every once in a while you
have a guy who touches that third rail
and it used to be far more prevalent and
blatant than it now is here's cliff
kingsbury walking through the minefield
of commenting on
players not present for voluntary otas
led by in arizona quarterback kyler
murray
yeah we we've talked to everybody
everybody we knew going in um
to the off season to start off soon
program who's going to be here what
their schedule is like and
when we accept them back would you like
to see kyler add more hollywood together
out there like i've seen them together
live and in person on the other team and
it was not fun for me so i know what it
looks like but no i think like i've said
before i think as a coach
you want to have these guys here all the
time but it's just
not how the rules are set up and
different guys handling different ways
i do
you get the feeling cliff kingsbury at
texas tech saw carla murray and
hollywood brown
in that second column
the colossal column graphic yeah yeah
end of the year uh
yeah um but uh
look he handled it the right way
you have the conversations with the guys
and every once in a while you'll hear
that that
there's a player who has an excused
absence
from the voluntary program well they're
all excused they're all there's no
excuse necessary but you'll hear that
term and you know you get the impression
that they're in the loop and we know
what we're doing and we know who's not
here but
in theory
you don't have to know anything
you just don't show up we open the door
and we see who comes you know it's like
a shopper at a store who shows up we'll
see it's voluntary to show up at the
grocery store it's voluntary to show up
to work out but they do try to talk to
these guys and they try to maintain the
relationship because
look they are going to be there in two
months and and and you i i
what does the off-season program mean
well look at the churn that constantly
happens on these rosters guys are
getting cut
guys are getting cut based on what
they're getting based on again it's
happening based on what they see at
these voluntary off-season workouts we
don't need that guy this guy's better
than we thought let's get rid of them
right yes so yeah it's even though it's
voluntary it's still very important and
i feel bad for the kid who shows up and
says oh i got to be there i got to go i
got to try hard and then they saw me and
they they they don't think i'm very good
and now i don't have to be there anymore
because they told me to leave so yeah
but that just shows you it it still is
important to the process that's where we
try to walk through the mindfulness
voluntary but it's still important in
the process of getting ready yeah that
that's the point i mean it's just it's
part of the team building process for
the 2022 season it starts now the the
lifeline of the 22
2022 nfl football team is is being built
you know as we speak so you know that
that's where you know you you like
everybody there and you know you get you
you start your new mantra for the year
you get everybody on the same page
camaraderie oh hey here's a new wrinkle
or two on defense and offense and let's
work on that a little bit and kind of go
through the procedure of how we want to
do that there's all of that but you know
yeah you could tell cliff kingsbury
definitely walking on eggshells a little
bit there yeah i'm sure he's talked to
kyler murray but what's he supposed to
do it's a business this is part of the
business and if kyler murray had a
contract
he would be there i i could guarantee
that if kyle murray had a contract he
would be there but he doesn't so this is
his way of kind of you know giving them
the two middle fingers and saying no
i'll practice on my own for now i'm not
going to give you my services until you
pay me uh appropriately
well and that's the key too this is the
application of business leverage to try
to get his contract along with
protecting himself against an injury
that would happen during otas and even
though he would be covered this year
with his regular season salary and also
also his fifth year option payment which
is fully guaranteed yeah you potentially
undermine your long-term
i don't want to call it a windfall
because it's earned your long-term major
generational life-changing money is at
risk if you get yourself injured during
one of these off-season workouts but
again if you're going to work out on
your own you're better off working out
in the building but it's part of the
balance i want my contract
i'll show up when i get my contract
until then i'm not showing up and that
that's part of the they're all all the
reasons for not being there are
legitimate
but it's very legitimate to say
i want my contract and i'm not showing
up and putting myself at risk until i
get it
hi i'm mike tarico and thanks for
watching make sure to hit subscribe for
the latest news and highlights from nbc
sports