[vincesanity82]

There seems to be a trend in players missing voluntary practices, but even though its voluntary coaches treat it as if they were mandatory. My question on this is yes players should want to go to get better prepared even if it is voluntary, but if coaches are treating the practices like they are mandatory, why dont they just make them mandatory..

that make sense?

[Bette]

YES! This is another one of those things that I dont understand about the NFL

[Lefty Noob]

Ah, yes... OTAs and some practices are not manditory. But there's a level of expectation that the guy who shows up and works his tail off at these camps will be rewarded, and the guys that skip them will get black marks for being lazy, lacking dedication and not putting the good of the team first. In this way, voluntary isn't really voluntary. It's more like a test to see what each player will do, how much effort they're willing to put forth. Proven commodities and stars obviously get more slack than rookies or those engaged in heated position battles. Hope that makes sense.

[Bette]

At the very least, its confusing to some of the fans. I am going on the assumption that the players know whether or not its really mandatory. On one hand, you have the media screaming about someone not being there: some say its a test of hard he will work, how much of a team player he is,etc. On the other hand, others(including some coaches) say its not a big deal. He will be there when he is needed, and do what he needs to do.
So the rest of the year whenever one of those guys mess up, I am going to think "Aha! I knew it. You missed an ota."