Eagles won’t get early start this spring despite new head coach

In previous years, the NFL has allowed teams with new head coaches an opportunity to begin their offseason programs early with an extra mini camp.

That’s not the case this year.

As the NFL and the NFLPA continue to navigate the structure of this year’s offseason program amid the COVID-19 pandemic, NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reports that Phase 1 of the NFL offseason will begin for all 32 teams on April 19.

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So Nick Sirianni and the Eagles will not get an extra mini camp this year.

The NFL and NFLPA have worked collaboratively throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. But if there's no deal on 2021 offseason rules, normal CBA provisions would apply. In-person workouts and practices would mean players need to show up to earn any workout bonuses in their contracts.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) March 30, 2021

While we now have a start date for Phase 1, there are still a lot of questions to be answered.

The main hurdle left to clear is whether or not teams will be able to gather physically for on-field work and meetings during their offseason programs. Earlier this week, ProFootballTalk reported that the NFLPA is pushing for another virtual offseason program.

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According to Pelissero, there’s hope that teams might be able to have practices this spring while still holding meetings virtually. That seems like a logical compromise and wouldn’t be all that different from during the season last year when teams went into the intensive protocol. Players would practice and then head home for virtual meetings. It seems like that is perhaps where this is going.

As a reminder, when we talk about Phase 1 of the offseason program, there are very specific rules for what that allows. In Phase 1, players are simply doing strength and conditioning work with no other coaches on the field and there are time limits for that work.

After Phase 1, there’s Phase 2, but that’s still non-competitive. Phase 3 is when OTAs begin.

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