Reason Revealed For Patriots Losing 2 OTAs, Bill Belichick Fine
FOXBORO — In the wake of rampant speculation as to the reason for the New England Patriots being penalized for a violation of NFL offseason rules, details have emerged to shed some light on the situation.
In short, the infraction apparently took place in the meeting room, not on the practice fields.
“Per a source with knowledge of the situation, it was a meeting violation,” wrote ProFootballTalk’s Mike Florio. “According to the source, an observer from the NFL Players Association believed that one of the optional early offseason meetings was a violation, because the 15-minute meeting in question (a special-teams session) was made visible on the internal schedule … In the opinion of the NFLPA, placing the meeting on the formal schedule converted it from “optional” to “mandatory.”
It was initially reported by ESPN’s Mike Reiss on Wednesday evening the Pats were losing two days of organized team activities (OTAs) due to the violation. However, Boston Sports Journal’s (BSJ) Greg Bedard has additionally indicated that Patriots head coach Bill Belichick has also been fined $50,000 for the team’s transgression.
“At the heard of the matter: coach Joe Judge — referred to as Patriots' Special Teams Coach by the league in the documents — conducted special teams meetings that caused offense and defense players to be at the facility longer than their maximum four hours, permitted during Phase Two of the Club’s program” Bedard reported.
Accordingly to the NFL, the violations occurred on May 1, 2, and 4, and centered around special teams workshops conducted by Judge. The league also noted that the Patriots have since “complied fully with the situation.”
After holding their first two OTAs earlier this week, the team originally announced on Wednesday that it was cancelling the third session, scheduled for Thursday. Members of the media were set to take their first on-field look at the team, which includes several new faces both on the coaching staff, as well as the roster.
While rescheduling of this type was slightly eye-opening, it is far from being unprecedented. Pats coach Bill Belichick has both cancelled and postponed offseason practices during both voluntary OTAs and mandatory minicamp during several of his years at the helm in New England.
Since that time, the reason behind the cancellation has been made public, ultimately costing the Patriots two OTAs (May 25 and May 30), and leaving Belichick with a hefty five-figure fine.
Accordingly, media access to New England’s OTAs has been postponed until Wednesday, with another session open to reporters on June 8.
New England now joins the Dallas Cowboys (2021, 2022), Chicago Bears (2022), Houston Texans (2022), San Francisco 49ers (2021) and Jacksonville Jaguars (2021,) who have also been fined and/or docked OTA days for violating offseason rules in recent seasons.
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