On Monday, the Detroit Lions held their first day of OTAs and one familiar face missing from action was Pro Bowl cornerback, Darius Slay.
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If you follow Slay on Twitter, his being absent for workouts that are voluntary should come as no surprise.
Back in April, Slay quote tweeted a message from Andy Benoit which said the NFL’s next CBA needs to make “voluntary” workouts mandatory. Slay’s comment made it pretty clear about how he felt about the idea of making voluntary workouts such as OTAs mandatory.
When they guarantee all our money than we might think about it….. https://t.co/jOGH3VaWt3
— Darius Slay (@bigplay24slay) April 23, 2019
OTAs are voluntary for players and though some veterans make it a point to be there, others do not, which is their right according to the NFL’s current CBA.
This round of Lions voluntary OTAs will resume on Tuesday with another “practice” being held on Thursday.
Here is a look the schedule for the Lions’ offseason workout dates.
First day: April 15
Rookie minicamp: May 10-12
OTA offseason workouts: May 20-21, May 23, May 29-31, June 10-13
Mandatory minicamp: June 4-6
Though Slay was in town on Monday (as you can see below), don’t expect him to workout with the Lions until the mandatory minicamp on June 4-6. That being said, Big Play could surprise us and show up for work today!
Big Shoutout to @_bigplayslay23 for coming out on a rainy day to support the kids. It’s great for the kids to see someone like them living the dream. @NFL @Lions pic.twitter.com/XJ1kLbzykT
— Terry Richardson II (@Terry_Rich) May 21, 2019