Rams officially open OTAs: How does it work?

Important dates announced for L.A.’s spring workouts

With the 2024 NFL Draft looming in 10 days, the Los Angeles Rams officially open OTAs today and minicamp dates have been officially announced. While there are no official reports yet, L.A. is expected to again hold spring workouts at the Cal Lutheran University facility in Thousand Oaks, their temporary practice field home since moving back west in 2016.

AP News has reported the team has began growing grass at their new, state-of-the-art Woodland Hills facility in preparation for the Rams 2024 training camp in July.

Here are the scheduled dates for L.A. spring workouts.

Opening day: April 15

Phase 1 of workouts are the first two weeks of team program’s, limited to meetings, strength and conditioning, and physical rehabilitation.

Phase 2 are held over the next three weeks, they include individual and/or group instruction and drill work. Also allowed are “perfect play drills”, where offensive and defensive players can line up across from each other, within their own groups, and run plays/drills at a walk-through pace. No live contact or offense vs. defense work is allowed.

OTA workouts: May 20-21, May 23, May 28-29, May 31, and June 3-6

Phase 3 plays out over the next four weeks. The Rams may conduct a maximum of 10 days of organized team practice activities, OTAs. Although no live contact is allowed and fully padded practices are prohibited (helmets only), 7 on 7, 9 on 7, and 11 on 11 drills are allowed.

Mandatory mini-camp: June 10-12

As part of Phase 3, teams are allowed one mandatory minicamp for veterans and these workouts must be held within the four-week OTA period.

Since it is not officially paid work, as a written and general rule, OTAs are voluntary for established NFL veterans. Also generally, full attendance (or near) is normal amongst all players and some players sign contracts that have a “workout bonus” attached to them.

Rookie Development Program

The Rams may also hold a seven-week rookie development program and while no official dates have been released, they are approved to start on May 13. It is a weekday program except for one post-draft weekend minicamp, usually very soon after the draft.