{"id":851932,"date":"2026-04-03T20:47:21","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T20:47:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/851932\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T20:47:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T20:47:21","slug":"bills-receive-two-extra-benefits-from-hiring-joe-brady-as-nfl-announces-otas-dates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/851932\/","title":{"rendered":"Bills Receive Two Extra Benefits from Hiring Joe Brady as NFL Announces OTAs Dates"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Buffalo Bills<\/a> will be back in town for the spring beginning on April 7.<\/p>\n

The NFL officially revealed Organized Team Activities (OTAs) schedules<\/a> for all 32 clubs, and the Bills are one of 10 teams who will kick off Phase 1 this upcoming week.<\/p>\n

As a result of hiring a new head coach, Buffalo can begin its offseason program two weeks earlier<\/a> than the standard start date. With April 6 being the first permissible day, the Bills have chosen to commence on Tuesday, April 7.<\/p>\n

Although the large majority of Bills’ players are expected to attend the voluntary sessions<\/a>, there won’t be anything resembling football happening for a few weeks. As per the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), OTAs Phase 1 activities are strictly limited to “meetings, strength and conditioning, and physical rehabilitation only.”<\/p>\n

“There’ll probably be some cursing, I’m not gonna lie,” said Brady, who will be leading the players on official business<\/a> for the first time. “Honestly, part of the process right now is just making sure I’m not loading them with everything [on] Day 1.”<\/p>\n

\"Joe<\/p>\n

Mar 31, 2026; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Buffalo Bills head coach Joe Brady during the 2026 NFL Annual League Meeting at the Arizona Biltmore. | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Replacing Sean McDermott with Brady allows the Bills to receive a second OTAs-related benefit in addition to the early start date. Buffalo is permitted to hold a voluntary veteran minicamp prior to the NFL Draft<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Bills have scheduled the first minicamp of the Joe Brady Era for April 20-22. There will be two more subsequent minicamps in May and June.<\/p>\n

First, Buffalo will host a rookie minicamp during either the first (May 1-3) or second (May 8-10) weekend following the draft. Then, at the completion of OTAs Phase 3, the Bills will conduct mandatory minicamp that is set for June 9-11.<\/p>\n

\"Josh<\/p>\n

Bills quarterback Josh Allen talks routes and passes with offensive coordinator Joe Brady at St. John Fisher University Thursday, August 7, 2025 in Pittsford, NY. | Shawn Dowd\/Rochester Democrat and Chronicle \/ USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Following Phase 1, OTAs can begin to include on-field workouts, which are limited to “individual or group instruction and drills.” Team drills are not permitted during the three-week period classified as Phase 2.<\/p>\n

Phase 3 is when OTAs begin in earnest<\/a> as teams are allowed to host 10 days of practice activity during that stretch. While 7-on-7, 9-on-7, and 11-on-11 drills are all permissible, no live contact can occur. The Bills are slated to begin this intensified phase on May 18.<\/p>\n

Bills’ OTAs practice dates<\/p>\n

May 18, May 19, May 21, May 26, May 27, May 28, June 1, June 2, June 3, June 4<\/p>\n

Bills’ minicamp dates<\/p>\n

Voluntary veteran minicamp \u2014 April 20-22<\/p>\n

Rookie minicamp \u2014 May 1-3 or May 8-10<\/p>\n

Mandatory minicamp \u2014 June 9-11<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Buffalo Bills will be back in town for the spring beginning on April 7. The NFL officially…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":851933,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2048],"tags":[215,214,53,2086,7,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-851932","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-buffalo-bills","8":"tag-bills","9":"tag-buffalo","10":"tag-buffalo-bills","11":"tag-buffalobills","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116342742740957992","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/851932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=851932"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/851932\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/851933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=851932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=851932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=851932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}