Ravens have a week of OTA practices taken away for violating rules
The Baltimore Ravens’ failure to study the rule book has cost them a week of offseason practices.
The Ravens held at least one drill earlier this month in which rookies were in pads. The team claimed it didn’t know rookie minicamps were under the same “no pads” umbrella as normal OTA practice rules, but that never made much sense. They’ve paid the price for violating the rules. The Ravens will forfeit a week of OTA practices, which were scheduled from June 1-3, and the organization and coach John Harbaugh were fined. The Ravens were fined $343,057 and Harbaugh was fined $137,223 according to ESPN’s Jim Trotter.
That’s three of 10 OTA practice sessions they’re giving up.
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“We made a mistake and we are sorry for that,” the team said in a statement. “We accept the NFL discipline.”
“I told the players, I said, ‘There’s not one guy in this room, coaches the same thing, not one player or coach in this room that should worry about it for one second, shouldn’t have any anxiety about it because it’s on me,'” Harbaugh said. “It’s completely me. It was my decision, it was my effort, and that’s the situation we’re in. We’ll adjust, we’ll adapt, and we’ll still become the best football team we can be.”
The violation came when the Ravens had their rookies in pads on May 6 for what was reported as five minutes of a punt drill. Teams can’t have pads on before training camp, a rule that was put in the collective-bargaining agreement in 2011. Harbaugh has been the Ravens coach since 2008. That it happened during a practice with rookies, who are unlikely to know the CBA rules, doesn’t appear to be a coincidence.
Coaches complain about the lack of practice time on the field under the new CBA. The Ravens just had a significant portion of their practice time taken away for trying to get around the restricted new rules.
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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab
