For many NFL players, especially proven veterans, OTAs are an afterthought and they instead wait until later in the offseason to report to the team’s facility.
But new Baltimore Ravens head coach Jesse Minter hopes to change players’ attitudes toward OTAs. He said on Chris Simms Unbuttoned on Wednesday that he hopes to make OTAs an event players want to attend, especially star quarterback Lamar Jackson.
“First of all, I do have total respect for the rules that it is voluntary,” Minter said (h/t Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio). “Totally understand that. And Lamar has had unbelievable success doing it both ways. And so there’s certainly a balance there. But I think it’s our job to create an environment and a learning opportunity where they feel like it’s really important to them to want to be there.”
Jackson did not attend OTAs last year, a decision that cost him $750,000, per Florio.
While Minter was a bit subtle in his suggestion that Jackson should attend OTAs, offensive coordinator Declan Doyle was more blunt last week.
“We would expect [players] to be here and, certainly, it is voluntary,” Doyle told reporters. “But, if you want to say that you’re going to win a championship, you want to say that you have championship standards, and those are your goals and your expectations — certainly that’s going to take work, that’s going to take collaboration, and that’s going to take the beginning of building the relationship with their coaches [and] other players starting off this next regime on the right foot.”
If there were ever a year for Jackson and others veterans attend OTAs, it would be this year. The Ravens are coming off an 8-9 season and have a new coach for the first time in 18 years. Showing up at OTAs could set the tone for the year to come.
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