NFL OTAs - organized team activities - are voluntary. Sort of.
They are also invaluable in building a team and player-to-player chemistry. Maybe.
The New England Patriots are busy preparing for the upcoming season, with pad-less "practices" on the fields adjacent to Gillette Stadium in Foxboro. Among the notable players absent from some or all of the workouts so far are the team's two most important new faces.
Rookie first-round draft pick Christian Gonzalez is yet to sign his contract. JuJu Smith-Schuster - signed as a free agent and expected to be the team's No. 1 receiver - is missing a practice, in part, to play in the Logan Bowl, a video game tournament hosted by the Christian McCaffrey Foundation.
While Mac Jones is participating, Matthew Judon isn't. Voluntary, right?
The importance of their absence depends on who you ask. The Patriots were fined and docked a couple of sessions because the NFL believes they are important. But ...
“Depends on where you’re at in your career and who you are,” former Patriots cornerback Ty Law said this week on WEEI’s Greg Hill show. “I think OTAs [matter] if you’re coming to a new system to get acclimated to the playbook because it’s different terminologies everywhere you go. Football is football, but they say it differently. So for some [it is necessary].”
Law said he never showed up for OTAs, and somehow still won three Super Bowls and made it into the Patriots Hall of Fame. Former Patriots offensive line coach Dante Scarnecchia often said, however, that they are “invaluable.”
Said WEEI host and former New England tight end Jermaine Wiggins:
“I needed them my first year, but after that, I didn’t need them. OTA’s are meaningless.”
All agreed that Gonzalez, a rookie, is missing valuable time. But what about Smith-Schuster?
“He’s earned a certain right as far as being a veteran guy," he said. "But as far as learning the system and the terminology, he probably should be here. It ain’t like he’s Randy Moss.”
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