Bengals begin offseason workouts

Normally speaking, April 21 would be a nondescript sunny day for Cincinnati with most people. A gentle breeze that offers another tease that we're really approaching summer after a miserable winter slapped us with a humble stick doesn't figure to be a day featuring the Bengals. After all, it's the day after Easter, on 4/20, shaking hands for one of the more economic beneficial days in April as people are slogging back to work.

Including the Bengals, who will voluntarily begin their offseason training program.

Offseason workouts begin: April 21
NFL Draft: May 8-10
OTAs: May 27-29, June 3-5, June 16-19
Mandatory minicamp: June 10-12

A breakdown on the offseason training program, per the CBA:

(i) Phase One

• Phase One shall consist of the first two weeks of the Club's offseason workout program. Subject to the additional rules set forth in Section 5 of this Article, Phase One activities shall be limited to strength and conditioning and physical rehabilitation only.
• During Phase One, only full-time or part-time strength and condi­tioning coaches, who have no other coaching responsibilities with the Club, shall be allowed on the field; no other coaches shall be allowed on the field or to otherwise par­ticipate in or observe activities.
• No footballs shall be permitted to be used (only "dead ball" activities), except that quarterbacks may elect to throw to receivers provided they are not covered by any other player.
• Players cannot wear helmets during Phase One.

(ii) Phase Two

• Phase Two shall consist of the next three weeks of the Club's offseason workout program.
• Subject to the additional rules set forth in Section 5 of this Article, during Phase Two all coaches shall be allowed on the field.
• On-field wor­kouts may include individual player instruction and drills, as well as "perfect play" drills (e.g., offense or defense only, but not offense vs. defense), or special teams drills on a "separates" basis (e.g .. , kicking team or return team only, but not kicking team vs. return team).
• No live contact or team offense vs. team defense drills are permitted.
• No offense vs. defense drills are permitted (e.g .. , no one-on-one offensive linemen vs. defensive linemen pass rush or pass protection drills, no wide receivers vs. defensive backs bump­and-run drills, and no one-on-one special teams drills involving both offense and defense are permitted.)
• Players cannot wear helmets during Phase Two.

(iii) 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.