Report: Detroit Lions rookies will report to camp next week

If this were a normal offseason for the NFL, the Detroit Lions rookie class would’ve reported to Allen Park on Tuesday to get training camp underway. Obviously, with COVID-19 throwing off the entire offseason, this is no typical year.

While the NFL and NFL Players Association continue to work out details to create as safe of a work environment as possible, the Lions have decided to put their camp on hold. Though they would be within their rights to force rookies to report this week, as laid out by the Collective Bargaining Agreement, they’ve told rookies they can wait until next week to report to camp, according to Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press.

The NFL has agreed that training camp will start with daily coronavirus testing. That means the first few days of camp will simply be players showing up for the test then going home until test results come back negative. After that, teams are expected to have a couple weeks of strength and conditioning before even putting the pads on to help mitigate the losses of minicamp or OTAs this offseason. It’s unclear as of right now when typical training camp practices will take place.

Chris Burke from The Athletic has a slightly more detailed timeline:

But, for now, don’t expect any updates from Lions players or coaches for at least another week. That being said, at least one Detroit Lions rookie is in town and ready to get things started. Welcome to Detroit, Jeff Okudah!