Detroit Lions violated OTA contact rules, must forfeit practice

By Grant Gordon

Things got a little too physical at Detroit Lions organized team activities apparently.

The Lions announced Friday evening that they were notified they had violated player work rules regarding on-field physical contact and would need to forfeit Monday’s OTA practice, as a result.

The full statement from the club reads as such:

“On Friday evening the organization was made aware by the NFL and NFLPA that Organized Team Activities (OTA) practices held the week of May 27 violated player work rules pertaining to on-field physical contact pursuant to the Collective Bargaining Agreement. As a result, the team’s OTA practice scheduled for Monday, June 10 has been forfeited. We take very seriously the rules set forth within the NFL’s Offseason Program and have worked to conduct our practices accordingly. We will continue to be vigilant with our practices moving forward.”

OTAs with live contact are barred by the collective bargaining agreement. Teams losing practices or being fined isn’t altogether uncommon though.

The Lions conducted OTA workouts from May 21-23 and May 29-31 and were set to resume their final OTA session from Monday through Wednesday. Now they’ll return on Tuesday. Detroit has already conducted its mandatory minicamp, which ran this past week.