The Las Vegas Raiders and 24 other NFL teams will begin their offseason programs on Monday, but the Raiders are the only team with a new full-time head coach to do so.
The other seven teams with a new head coach began their offseason programs in the last few weeks, but the Raiders did not because of a little-known NFL rule, which Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer explained.
“It turns out there’s a rule — that at least I didn’t know about — biting the Raiders here,” Breer wrote on April 9. “Under the NFL and NFLPA’s agreement, if a head coach was interim coach for more than two games, then he and his staff are ineligible for the added time and extra minicamp in their first offseason with the team. Antonio Pierce, having coached nine games, was way over that threshold. So the Raiders, under Pierce, will start next Monday.”
Monday marks the start of Phase One of the offseason program. Here's more details on what that and the other two phases entail, per NFL.com:
Phase One consists of the first two weeks of the program, with activities limited to meetings, strength and conditioning, and physical rehabilitation only. Essentially, it’s the getting-to-know-you portion of the school year.
Phase Two consists of the next three weeks of the program. On-field workouts may include individual or group instruction and drills, as well as "perfect play drills," and drills and plays with offensive players lining up across from offensive players and defensive players lining up across from defensive players, conducted at a walk-through pace. No live contact or team offense vs. team defense drills are permitted.
Phase Three consists of the next four weeks of the program. Teams may conduct a total of 10 days of organized team practice activity, or "OTAs". No live contact is permitted, but 7-on-7, 9-on-7, and 11-on-11 drills are permitted.
Here's the Raiders' full offseason workout schedule:
First Day: April 15
OTA Offseason Workouts: May 20-21, May 23, May 28-29, May 31, June 3-6
Mandatory Minicamp: June 11-13
The Raiders are permitted to hold a rookie minicamp, which can be on either the first or second weekend following the 2024 NFL Draft that ends on April 27.
Raiders coaches should be meeting with the media at some point this week, also. We'll have full coverage when they do.
