Notes: NFL offseason workout and minicamp schedules set

As pointed out by Jeff Risdon over at Lions Wire, the NFL today published the offseason workout schedules for all teams. The Detroit Lions are sort of unusual in that they are one of only four teams (Buccaneers, Giants, Eagles, plus the Lions) who are holding their Mandatory Minicamp prior to the end of their last organized team practice activity (OTA) offseason workout. From the NFL’s news release:

DETROIT LIONS

OTA Offseason Workouts: May 25-27, June 2-4, June 14-17

Mandatory Minicamp: June 8-10

Rookie Minicamp: May 14-16

All but three teams (Colts, Raiders, Jets) are holding their rookie minicamps in the same mid-May window that the Lions are using. Good explanatory notes on when each of the different types of activities may be held and what restrictions are placed on the teams when scheduling them are included in the NFL’s news release. For example, the rookie minicamp is the only rookie development activity that may be held on the weekends, and only on the two weekends immediately following the draft. That is why most teams are holding their rookie minicamps next weekend and the only three teams not following suit are holding their rookie minicamps this weekend.

An interesting part about what can happen at the so-called “phase 3” stage that contains the final Lions OTA and mandatory minicamp is that “(n)o live contact is permitted, but 7-on-7, 9-on-7, and 11-on-11 drills are permitted.” Given how little we know about the actual systems the Lions will use on both offense and defense, these sessions will probably be the first time the team gets to go through the motions of plays that may actually be a part of the plan in 2021.

I’m looking forward to a lot of wild speculation on limited information in the weeks ahead, and you should be, too! Now, on to the rest of today’s Notes:

• Lions RB Jamaal Williams went on NFL Network’s and joined Omar Ruiz in an entertaining interview. You have to love his enthusiasm:

• Well, this is kind of interesting if true:

• Speaking of OTC, no Lions players are included in this article by OverTheCap’s Jason Fitzgerald, but it is an interesting exercise nonetheless. In it, he converts expected value of production for the picks received and picks given up to determine how much better in expected value the actual player drafted needs to be in order to win the trade. The bigger the deficit, the more the player the team ended up selecting after trading up needs them to be a draft gem that delivers.

• The Detroit Lions are looking to hire for various positions on their media teams for the 2021 season. You can apply online for this position if interested. They have a fantastic social media team, so this seems like it would be a fun thing to do.

• Former Lions front office guy who took the helm between Mayhew and Quinn is leaving Michigan State and joining the scouting department of Mayhew’s new team:

• Kind of neat visualization of how much each team’s draft capital changed from the end of the 2020 season to last weekend: