The New England Patriots will have to make do with two fewer OTAs – Organised Team Activities – this offseason. The NFL penalized the franchise for a rules violation.

The New England Patriots have been penalised by the NFL for a formal error in their offseason programme.

The league stripped the Patriots of two of their Organised Team Activities, or OTAs. Each franchise can schedule up to ten of these OTAs during the offseason. These serve as an initial introduction to the team, especially for new players.

However, OTAs have little to do with real training; contacts are strictly forbidden. OTAs take place between the rookie minicamps in mid-May and the mandatory minicamps in mid-June.

New England Patriots’ own scheduling becomes their undoing

The Patriots had their third OTA session scheduled for Thursday, but had to cancel it because of the penalty. But what were they penalised for

According to the players’ union NFLPA, the team from Foxborough was blamed for an internal error. A voluntary 15-minute special teams meeting was published in the franchise’s official schedule.

However, according to the NFLPA, this publication meant that the meeting was no longer “voluntary” but “mandatory” and thus a violation of the rules.

Penalties for offseason misconduct, however, are not all that uncommon in the NFL. Last year, the Dallas Cowboys, the Chicago Bears, the Washington Commanders and the Houston Texans were all penalised.