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One of the stranger rules surrounding the NFL and its Collective Bargaining Agreement is the requirement that rookies stay away from their new NFL teams' offseason workouts while their schools are still in session. As long as a player is enrolled in school and has not yet graduated, he is not allowed to participate in workouts or OTAs (other than rookie minicamp) until the academic calendar has finished for the spring term.
A few members of the Green Bay Packers' 2016 draft class have been held back because of this rule: first-round pick Kenny Clark, fourth-round selection Dean Lowry, and sixth-rounder Kyle Murphy.
Clark is clearly no fan of being away from Green Bay until UCLA's spring quarter concludes on Friday, June 10th. He retweeted the following tweet from teammate Caleb Benenoch on Tuesday night (Benenoch was a fifth-round pick of the Buccaneers), showing the Bruins teammates' clear displeasure with the rule:
Worst. Rule. Ever. https://t.co/8BBZZGc7yg
— Caleb Benenoch (@CalebBenenoch) June 8, 2016
For Lowry, he was more open about the end of his term. He may actually make the short trip up I-94 and I-43 this week and could rejoin his team for the last day or two of OTAs, as he finished today (though Northwestern's quarter technically goes until Saturday):
Officially done with school. Time for football.
— Dean Lowry (@DeanLowry94) June 7, 2016
Finally, Stanford finishes out its final exams on Wednesday, which should put sixth-round pick Kyle Murphy in Green Bay this weekend in time for minicamp as well. UPDATE: Murphy tweeted on Wednesday afternoon that he is now in Green Bay and ready to start working.
The Packers will look forward to having their entire draft class together for the first time when they open minicamp next Tuesday. Stay tuned here for plenty of news and updates from the three-day session.