Minnesota Vikings Announce Offseason Workout Dates

On Monday, the Minnesota Vikings (and 31 other less important teams) announced the dates for their offseason workouts. Prior to today, I had no idea when these things were going to be, but it turns out that it’s going to be much earlier than I would have anticipated.

The Vikings’ offseason program is set to get underway exactly two weeks from today, on 17 April. This will kick off “Phase I” of the offseason program (and we’ll get into the phases below).

The team will also have three minicamps that are voluntary for veteran players, per the Collective Bargaining Agreement, that will cover ten total days of training. For the Vikings, those dates are from 23-25 May, 30 May-1 June, and 5-8 June.

Last, the team will have one minicamp that’s mandatory for everybody. This will be the Vikings’ final workouts before Training Camp starts, and it will take place from 13-15 June. That means the last workouts will take place about six weeks before the team hits Mankato this summer.

Per the CBA, the offseason program is conducted in three “phases.” Phase I of the program consists of nothing but strength and conditioning work, as well as physical rehabilitation. This covers the first two weeks of the offseason program.

From there, the team will move on to. . .check this out. . .Phase II. In Phase II of the offseason program, there can be on-field workouts that can include individual player instruction and drills, but no live offense vs. defense drills are permitted. This covers the next three weeks of the program.

Last, there’s Phase III, which coincides with the start of Organized Team Activities. During this phase, teams can conduct 7-on-7, 9-on-7, and 11-on-11 drills. There is no live contact permitted in any phase of the offseason program prior to Training Camp.

So, that’s when our favorite football team is going to get together to start the march to the 2017 NFL season, ladies and gentlemen.