OTAs probably not happening for Vikings and rest of NFL this year

Due to the measures being taken to slow the spread of COVID-19, the Minnesota Vikings and the rest of the NFL likely won’t be having any OTAs this year.

It’s a strange time for the Minnesota Vikings and the 31 other teams around the NFL. Many things have been put on hold due to the recent efforts by the country to stop the spread of COVID-19 and it’s resulted in some major changes for the league.

The NFL Draft is currently still set to take place on its originally scheduled dates. But after that, not much is known about when the Vikings and other teams will be able to get back to their facilities and allow players to practice.

So when will things start to get back to looking semi-normal around the league? Well, it’s extremely hard to predict due to COVID-19, but the Medical Director for the NFL Players Association, Thom Mayer, recently attempted to give an estimate as to when teams will be able to return to some of their regularly scheduled offseason activities.

Mayer appeared on the latest episode of The Adam Schefter Podcast and he tried to give some realistic predictions for some of the top events coming up around the league during the next few months.

"“I think we’re going to know a lot more in late May, early June. That would be in all likelihood, based on our brain trust and people like Tony Fauci and Debra Birx and others, about the time that the hot spots begin to open up again for their own business and then follow from there.So OTAs, probably not going to happen. The clubs are closed for now and will remain closed for a while. But I’m very optimistic.”"

What about training camp this year? Does Mayer think this is something that will still be able to happen for Minnesota and the other teams around the NFL?

"“You’re probably looking at training camp as being a likely starting point. What will those training camps look like? We’re encouraging scenario planning to say, ‘no non-essential people at training camp.’ Including crowds, for example.”"

As expected, things are going to be very different around the league this year. But these are measures the NFL has to take due to COVID-19.

The league experienced some similar circumstances back in 2011 during the lockout and it resulted in things like OTAs not being conducted. Of course, the reasoning for teams not hitting the practice fields during the spring this time around is much, much different.

But those who experienced the lockout can use some of the things they learned from that time and apply it to how they prepare their team for the upcoming season.

It’s possible that there could be some changes during the next few weeks and teams might be able to return to their facilities quicker than predicted. But based on Mayer’s recent comments, one should assume that OTAs are highly unlikely to happen this year.