Promising signs Raiders could resume minicamp in June, training camp on time

Had it not been for the COVID-19 pandemic, the Raiders would be taking the field for their second of three OTA sessions today. Those OTA’s would be followed by mandatory minicamp which was scheduled to take place during the second week of June.

Since the stay-at-home orders across the country, OTA’s have not happened and minicamp has been up in the air as well as training camp and even the start of the regular season. But there are some signs things could start to get back on track.

All the states who are being on the cautious side of things during the pandemic look to California to take the lead. And the NFL won’t allow practices to resume until all teams are able to act in equal accordance with the rules put in place.

The Raiders will soon be in two places at once, but currently they are still in their Alameda facility until their Las Vegas facility is fully operational. But there are still three other teams in California, so it matters not.

There is still time for June minicamp to happen if things get back on track soon and if that happens, the Raiders could be in Napa on time for training camp as well. That’s the optimistic outlook.

The first signs that any optimism could be rewarded came last week when California Governor Gavin Newsom stepped behind a podium at Mustards restaurant in Napa and announced his hope that, should the trajectory of cases in California continue as they have of late, that sports teams could resume play without crowds present as early as June 1.

As it happens, the Napa Valley Marriott – where the Raiders hold their training camp – has also targeted June 1 as the date they hope to re-open. And currently, training camp being held there starting in late July is still on schedule.

If teams are allowed to play games without a crowd, the NFL teams could certainly begin offseason practices as well.

This morning a report by Charles Robinson of Yahoo! Sports says that NFL head coaches could be given the clear by the NFL to return to facilities as early as next week. And that with coaches back, it would open things up for minicamp to happen in mid-late June, either right on schedule or only slightly delayed.

This report was met with a word from NFLPA stating that they will have a say in this and have yet to give the go-ahead.

The NFL is expected to want to push forward to protect their bottom line. And the players and NFLPA will be more cautious to ensure all protective measures are in place before they allow their some 2880 members to converge on NFL facilities.

We are approaching some mileposts in the hopeful plan for the state of California and for the NFL. As J.C. Tretter noted, should all that come to pass, the NFLPA will be the final go-ahead. For now there is cause for some optimism that will happen with little to no major disruption to the NFL offseason or regular season.