NFL players not expected to return to team facilities until training camp, per report

While the COVID-19 outbreak has started to subside, the NFL still isn’t quite ready to have things return to normal.

According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, NFL players are not expected to return to their team facilities until training camp, which means there will be no normal OTAs this year. The league is also still deciding when training camps will begin.

Most teams already have reopened their facilities on a limited basis for essential employees amid the coronavirus pandemic, but healthy players still are not allowed to return.

Discussions about when to allow players to return are ongoing, sources said, and neither the NFL nor any teams have announced official dates for when training camp will begin.

It’s really unfortunate for teams like the Bengals that there won’t be any OTAs that allow everyone to be in Cincinnati together for some light practices in May and June, especially with a new quarterback taking over in Joe Burrow.

But the safety and health of everyone is far more important. The entire sports world is still figuring out how to bring everyone back together and get things back to normal with the threat of the virus looming, and the NFL is no different.

For now, the NFL’s virtual offseason will continue.