Eagles to forfeit workout sessions for violating scheduling rules
By LES BOWEN
bowenl@phillynews.com
Eagles players participating in the offseason conditioning program will get an unexpected vacation the week of May 16 to 23. The NFL and the NFL Players Association announced yesterday that the team will forfeit a week of offseason workouts for violating rules governing such sessions.
A league release said, "NFL executive vice president Harold Henderson and players association executive director Gene Upshaw have determined that the Eagles violated rules pertaining to the scheduling of on-field activities."
The Eagles said the sanctions won't affect rookie workouts scheduled for next week, or the rehab work of injured players. Players are paid for participating in the offseason program, and they still will get their money for the forfeited week. The team's next minicamp, for rookies on May 25-27, also will be unaffected.
A source with knowledge of the situation said teams must submit specific offseason workout dates to the union, and can't start the workouts before a certain date. The source said Eagles players came in to work on dates other than the ones reported, something the team didn't monitor closely, because the total number of dates was below the 14 weeks allowed by the rules.
"We take a lot of pride in the doing things the right way at the Philadelphia Eagles," coach Andy Reid said, in a statement that was part of the NFL-NFLPA announcement. "We didn't intentionally break any rules and we will get this matter resolved right away."
It's unclear how the Eagles' offseason workouts came to the attention of the league and the union. Players and agents tend to talk about such things among themselves. One obvious possibility would be that an Eagles player or players complained.
Last year, the Arizona Cardinals forfeited a week of workouts, reportedly after doing live hitting during what were supposed to be noncontact sessions under new coach Dennis Green. The New York Giants forfeited 2 days of workouts after new coach Tom Coughlin reportedly worked his players too long, and required them to report for breakfast.
Take your pick of disgruntled players. Simon, Westbrook, Hollis Thomas, Tra Thomas, TO, the People's Chump.
Even though TO and Mitchell aren't there, I'm sure they talk to players and know what is happening.
I'm lovin this!
