This is not the normal NFL offseason that we are used to and it certainly is not the offseason that NFL coaches and players (and prospects) are used to.
On Tuesday, Detroit Lions head coach Matt Patricia spoke to the media via a Zoom conference call, and one thing he spoke about it how things are going to be a bit different when it comes to undrafted rookies. Patricia said that he wants to give some of those players who went undrafted and have not yet signed with a team a chance to try out.
“There are definitely guys out there that, because of the situation we’re in, maybe are missing those opportunities that normally would be available to them, and certainly the easiest one to just throw off the top of my head is Malcolm Butler,” Patricia said.
“I mean having an opportunity to bring a guy like that into a rookie mini-camp or rookie tryout and letting that player perform and produce and give him that opportunity to show us what they can do, it’s unfortunate that that’s the situation we’re in.”
Patricia also noted that he spoke to Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh following the conclusion of the draft.
“I actually was on a call with a lot of coaches. Coach (Jim) Harbaugh Sunday after the Draft, and we were talking to him a lot about some of these guys that didn’t get picked up or signed and I said, ‘It’s going to be a little bit different. It’ll be a little bit of a longer timeline, but I think these guys eventually, at some point, will get a look or have that opportunity, but it’s just a slower timetable from that standpoint because of the unknown of going back to training camp,” Patricia said.
He added, “I do think that there are those missed opportunities, but hopefully those guys that are in that boat are out there working and preparing because when that phone call comes and they get that opportunity to go to an organization and get out on the field and show what they can do, they just have to be ready to go and it’s got to be at the highest level. Hopefully they can just keep that focus in these uncertain times.”
