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The Patriots will now only be able to hold eight OTA sessions during this leg of the NFL offseason.
The Patriots canceled their OTA session for Thursday and will have to drop another one next week. (Winslow Townson/AP Images
On Wednesday afternoon, the Patriots announced they were canceling Thursday’s Organized Team Activities (OTA) session at Gillette Stadium.
It seems the cancellation wasn’t their call after all.
According to ESPN’s Mike Reiss, the Patriots are losing two OTA days due to a violation of league rules.
It is unclear which rule the team broke to warrant the league penalty. Along with Thursday’s practice, New England will lose an OTA the following week. New England was scheduled for OTAs on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday of next week.
As part of the third phase of the NFL offseason, the Patriots were allowed to hold 10 OTAs, which are voluntary, unpadded, non-contact practices. Once OTAs are complete, the Patriots will host a mandatory three-day minicamp (June 12-14) before the league takes another extended hiatus.
New England will now only benefit from eight OTAs, which started earlier this week in Foxborough.
The Patriots are far from the first team to be docked at OTAs for offseason rule violations.
The Bears lost an OTA session last year due to holding a live practice, while the Jaguars, Cowboys and 49ers were all fined in 2021 and lost practices due to OTA violations.
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