The NFL calendar is, in many ways, predictable. The month of May, for example, typically spawns a slew of stories regarding the rookies who are unavailable for offseason workouts due to an outdated and nonsensical rule that keeps them from participating until the schools they typically have long ago left conclude their spring semesters.
This year, the first story we’ve noticed in this regard comes from Minnesota, where second-round draft pick Toby Gerhart will miss out on Organized Team Activities (a 23-letter phrase for “practice”) because Stanford’s school year doesn’t end until June 9.
He’ll be back for a June 11-13 minicamp. Per Tom Pelissero of 1500ESPN.com, Gerhart graduates on June 13 and he plans to try to participate in as much of the minicamp as he can before trading pigskin for sheepskin.
Look for other stories along these lines to emerge over the next week or two. We seem to recall Ohio State players and Washington players falling into this category.
And we definitely recall that these stories peter out quickly, and that no player’s struggles in his rookie year ever have been attributed to a rule that nevertheless is long overdue to be wiped off the books.
