Today will mark the first of four different sessions that the Minnesota Vikings will get together prior to Training Camp opening in late July.
Organized team activities will start today at Winter Park, and will run through Thursday. There will also be three other sessions for OTAs. Those will take place from June 5-7, June 11-14, and June 19-21. What can take place in Organized Team Activities is spelled out in Article 21, Section 2, Sub-section b(iii) of the new Collective Bargaining Agreement, defining what are known as "Phase Three" team activities. That section reads as follows:
Phase Three. Phase Three shall consist of the next four weeks of the Club's offseason workout program. Subject to the additional rules set forth in Subsections 5(a) and 5(c) of this Article and Appendix G to this Agreement, during Phase Three each Club may conduct a total of ten days of organized team practice activity ("OTAs" or "OTA days"). The restrictions set forth in Subsection 5(b) of this Article shall not apply to OTA days.
The Club may conduct a maximum of three days of OTAs during each of the first two weeks of Phase Three. A maximum of four days of OTAs may be conducted during either the third week or the fourth week of Phase Three, with the Mandatory Veteran Minicamp (Article 22, Section 2) to be held during the other week. During weeks in which the Club conducts only three days of OTAs, the Club may also conduct a fourth day of non-OTA workouts, but such activities shall be subject to the rules governing Phase Two workouts, as set forth in Subsection 2(b)(ii) of this Article.
During Phase Three, all coaches shall be allowed on the field. No live contact is permitted. No one-on-one offense vs. defense drills are permitted (i.e., no offensive linemen vs. defensive linemen pass rush or pass protection drills, no wide receivers vs. defensive backs bump-and-run drills, and no one-on-one special teams drills involving both offense and defense are permitted). Special teams drills (e.g., kicking team vs. return team) are permitted, provided no live contact occurs. Team offense vs. team defense drills, including all drills listed in Appendix G to this Agreement, are permitted, provided no live contact occurs. Clubs may require players to wear helmets; no shells are permitted during Phase Three of the Club's offseason workout program or any minicamp.
The session that will take place from June 19-21 is the "Mandatory Veteran Minicamp" that is described above.
No media access is being allowed at Winter Park today, so there isn't going to be anything floating around out there for us to jump on, but hopefully Wednesday and Thursday will have some coverage.