CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – The on-field portion of the NFL’s offseason program has officially been scrapped for 2020.
The next time we see the Browns on a football field will be in training camp.
The league informed teams Thursday morning that minicamps would not be held this month meaning the entirety of the offseason program will be done as it has been to date – virtually.
The virtual offseason program will end June 26.
Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski said Wednesday they were close to completing the installation phase and would move into a review phase next week.
“It is still a matter of with teaching, you can’t just hit it once and it is done,” Stefanski said. “We have to go back, review and build upon the foundation we have started to lay.”
Under the new CBA, most teams, including the Browns, are expected to report for training camp July 28, subject to no further schedule changes or agreements between the league and NFLPA.
The NFL and NFLPA are reportedly talking about cutting the preseason in half this year to two games. The NFL already announced that joint practices would not be allowed this year which cancelled the Browns early trip to Green Bay for work with the Packers.
“We are all in the same boat,” Stefanski said. “I think the message has always been and will continue to be we just have to find a way. To our players’ credit, the way they are learning on these Zoom calls, to our coaches’ credit, the way they are teaching, the workouts that the players are doing and some of them are in their garages that have been retrofitted as gyms, they are just finding a way.
“We are aware of the rules and we will play by the rules, just like the other 31 clubs.”
