The New England Patriots have once again been caught in some unusual activities.
According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, the league has forced the franchise to forfeit a couple of OTA days for violating the offseason rules.
The #Patriots lose a couple OTAs.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) May 25, 2023
This might sound vague — because it is — but it’s obviously not the first time that Bill Belichick and company have looked to bend the rules in their favor.
According to a report by Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk, the violation was related to a meeting.
Per his sources, an observer from the NFL Players Association deemed that one of their optional early offseason meetings was in violation of the league’s policies, given that the 15-minute meeting — which was meant for the special teams unit — was made visible on the internal schedule.
While that might not seem like a big deal, the NFLPA believes that placing such a meeting on the formal schedule gave it ‘mandatory’ status, instead of ‘optional,’ as all OTA-related activities should be.
Moreover, the report cites that the violation had nothing to do with on-field activities or impermissible contracts.
Now, the Patriots were forced to call off their Thursday practice, and they’ll also have to forfeit another day of OTAs next week, losing 20% of their OTA sessions ahead of the upcoming season.
Needless to say, the team will have more than plenty of time to make up for this, but they’ll still have plenty of work to do to keep up with the other powerhouses in the AFC East, especially with Aaron Rodgers arriving in New York.
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