While the rest of the NFL reports for work on Monday, the Green Bay Packers have a snow day.
Twenty-five NFL teams with returning head coaches were set to begin Phase 1 of the offseason program today, which officially begins a nine-week, mostly voluntary, workout period.
The Packers, however, where forced to delay their proceedings after a winter storm pelted the area this weekend, Aaron Nagler of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.
Yes. A blizzard. In mid-April. Welcome to Green Bay!
Some parts of the area received more than 20 inches of snowfall over the weekend.
Needless to say, many players that were planning to travel to Green Bay in advance of Monday's workouts couldn't make the trip, necessitating a delay to their program. The Packers plan to begin the offseason program Tuesday morning, per Nagler.
In the meantime, 24 other teams will begin voluntary offseason conditioning today. Those teams, in alphabetical order: Atlanta Falcons, Baltimore Ravens, Buffalo Bills, Carolina Panthers, Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns, Dallas Cowboys, Denver Broncos, Houston Texans, Jacksonville Jaguars, Kansas City Chiefs, Los Angeles Chargers, Los Angeles Rams, Miami Dolphins, Minnesota Vikings, New England Patriots, New Orleans Saints, New York Jets, Philadelphia Eagles, Pittsburgh Steelers, San Francisco 49ers, Seattle Seahawks, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Washington Redskins.
Phase 1 of the offseason program is the initial period of the NFL's three-part offseason workout program, as dictated by the collective bargaining agreement. The opening stage consists of the first two weeks, with activities limited to strength and conditioning and physical rehabilitation only. In short, starting today, players can work out at the team facility, but not much more.
Phase 2 takes place the following three weeks and consists of on-field workouts with individual player instruction and drills, as well as team practices conducted on a "separates" basis -- i.e. no team offense vs. team defense drills.
Phase 3 occurs over the next four weeks, in which teams can conduct 10 days of organized team activities, during which no live contact is permitted, but 7-on-7, 9-on-7 and 11-on-11 drills can take place.
In addition, teams are allotted one mandatory minicamp for veteran players. Clubs with new coaches are entitled an additional voluntary veteran minicamp.
