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Organized Team Activities (OTAs) are what the NFL uses to see how prepared a team is before their training camp starts. OTAs are not mandatory, which is why some veteran players or players who are under contract negotiations don’t show up to them. The latter seems to be the more common reason for absences and this year, OTAs were full of absences due to contract negotiations.
Some of the biggest issues during OTAs end up coming from player absences. Some of the most “publicized” absences for OTAs this year are Eric Weddle, Dez Bryant, and Demaryius Thomas. Each player has the same issue with each of their teams in regards to contracts, mainly due to the fact that they believe that they deserve more money than the team has offered or they have not been offered a long-term contract.
Eric Weddle, a free safety from the San Diego Chargers is garnering a lot of press right now especially around his contract. Weddle has not been keeping quiet about anything really in terms of the Chargers and their lack of negotiations. Weddle thought that skipping OTAs would give him the edge of the Chargers, but, unfortunately, the Chargers saw through his facade.
The Chargers’ GM Tom Telesco was asked about Weddle’s situation and had this to say: “We went through all of that stuff. We just decided that we’re just not at their numbers right now. It’s really as simple as that. There’s no sinister agenda there, nothing like that. Just right now it’s not there”. With Telesco and Weddle not backing down, it’s hard to imagine how the situation will be resolved, especially since Weddle is 32 and is likely in his last season for the Chargers at least. Even though Weddle showed up to minicamp, he certainly didn’t hold back when asked about the situation, “It’s obvious that I’m not part of this organization’s long-term plan. The NFL is a business, and I can accept that. I just wish the organization had been up front with me from Day 1”. Weddle also instructed his agent not to take any calls from the Chargers after July 15th which is the day for long-term contracts to be settled. It’s certainly going to be interesting to see what happens with Weddle.
Most of the talks in Dallas are about Dez Bryant and his lack of a long-term contract. To give some background, Bryant changed agents last year when he almost had a long-term contract so that the contract was gone. The Cowboys decided to slap the franchise tag on him which only seemed to anger Bryant including most of his absences from OTAs. Bryant showed up to OTAs for one day and he showed up for minicamp for one day as well, but it doesn’t look like the Cowboys are any closer to a new contract. Unfortunately, Dez could care less and has already gone on a twitter rant and threatened to skip the home opener, but it hasn’t seemed to affect the Cowboys in the slightest. Even the threat of him skipping the home opener hasn’t accomplished much especially in Stephen Jones’ (GM Jerry Jones’ son) eyes who made comments alluding to other wide receivers in saying “there’s just too big of a divide”. However unlike Weddle, Bryant is in the prime of his career, especially after 16 touchdowns last seasons and he has become an irreplaceable part of the Cowboys’ offense.
Another wide receiver in a similar situation is Demaryius Thomas. Like Bryant, Thomas had the franchise tag placed on him and without a long-term contract, he has not been attending OTAs or minicamp. Even though Thomas hasn’t showed up, he has been in contact with Peyton Manning who has kept him updated on OTAs and minicamp and Thomas has seen videos of the offensive line. While other GMs have been making comments, GM John Elway has been silent about Thomas and his contract. However head coach Gary Kubiak has been commenting on Thomas and claims he is “confident that they will reach an agreement”, but Manning seems less than confident. Manning wants Thomas to get the money that he deserves that he believes the Broncos are not going to give him and Manning wants to have his go-to receiver by his side again. Like Bryant, Thomas is in his prime and is an irreplaceable part in their offense.
