Well the saga of the 'illegal' organized team activities has come to a close. The NFL announced Thurday that the Washington Redskins had in fact been a little too physical in their workouts and thus, they have been stripped of three of their remaining OTA's. The Redskins will not be permitted to conduct OTA's next Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday as punishment, nor will they even be able to conduct weight room activities.
The move by the NFL is quite enigmatic considering that all three of the Redskin union representatives have repeatedly stated that they felt that the workouts were well within the confines of the rules. James Thrash stated, "They can [penalize teams] for up to a week, and I think it caught all of us by surprise. But we're all professionals and we've gotten some awesome work done in these 11 practices that we have had."
The Washington Post continues to spew half-truths like, 'Generally, teams incur penalties in the offseason when players complain to the union about the training sessions,' when there is no evidence that the players complained and in actuality, the players have nothing to do with it. The Post's article does go on to say that, 'The Redskins were investigated after officials of the NFL Players Association watched video of their practices that were made available on the team's Web site.' Vague reporting, and incorrect connecting of the dots might lead a reader to think that the Redskins were a victim of players complaining as opposed to the truth of the matter, which is that it was the videos on Redskins.com that were the 'source' of the NFL's investigation. While both sides claim to have no animosity towards each other, it seems obvious to some that the contention is growing. It is the fans that suffer, as for many years, the Post has been considered a solid source for Redskins news.
The Redskins will pick up the OTA's next Thursday the 16th, one day before mini-camp starts. THN will be there at mini-camp on the 17th, 18th and 19th to bring you daily news and photos of the workouts and give you a first glimpse at the Redskins working out at full speed. Stay tuned for the real facts!
Mark Solway is a senior writer for theHogs.net and can be reached by e-mail at BossHog@thehogs.net.
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