For offseason workouts, players quietly negotiated directly with their coaches

BOSTON — At first glance, the boycott of offseason workouts proposed by the NFL Players Association isn’t going well.

Nearly half of the 32 teams were reported to have had excellent attendance at voluntary workouts this past week, including many teams that previously issued statements threatening to stay away.

But the players have quietly made a few gains in their quest to change the makeup of the NFL’s nineweek offseason program. As Phase 3 begins on Monday — the final four weeks of the offseason, in which teams hold 10 voluntary practices plus a mandatory three-day minicamp — several teams will be practicing under rules that were bargained directly with their head coach.

“The NFL has been unwilling to find a better way to do the offseason,” NFLPA president J.C. Tretter said on a recent Zoom call with hundreds of players. “I think this is the first time ever we’ve had individual teams negotiating with their player leadership on how to do the offseason.”

The collective bargaining agreement that was signed last year and goes through 2031 states that all offseason practices are non-padded and non-contact. Eight of the nine weeks are also voluntary.

But this year, each team is handling the offseason differently. On the NFLPA call, Seahawks receiver Tyler Lockett said the veterans on his team still plan to skip the voluntary workouts completely. Tretter said the Browns’ veterans are likely to do the same.

The pace of practice was a big negotiation for several teams. Eagles firstyear coach Nick Sirianni agreed to do away with 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 drills, and even canceled the mandatory three-day minicamp. Raiders coach Jon Gruden agreed to do all walkthroughs this spring, per a league source.

And Dolphins coach Brian Flores agreed to a modified schedule in which the team won’t have virtual meetings on the two days per week that they hold walkthrough practices.