The Arizona Cardinals are one of a handful of teams welcoming a new head coach. The National Football League allows for these teams to begin their offseason programs as of Monday, April 1st. However, the Cardinals have announced that they will postpone the start of their off-season training. Instead, Arizona will start their program on April 8th.

Why the Delay?

The reason for delaying the start of workouts and team activities is to avoid interruption. Per collective bargaining rules, any team beginning workouts on April 1st, must then take a week-long break mid-way through the offseason program. As a result, it is becoming commonplace for teams to holdout for a week to avoid the sudden break.

Rest of the Schedule

Below is the off-season schedule released by the Cardinals:

April 8: Off-season strength and conditioning program begins. Only strength and conditioning staff is allowed on the field. This lasts two weeks and is part of Phase 1.

April 23-25: Teams with new coaches get a voluntary veteran minicamp

April 29: Phase 2 begins and lasts three weeks. Position coaches work on individual drills while offense/defense work against dummies. Offense versus defense is not allowed during this time.

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May 10-12: Mandatory rookie minicamp

May 20-22: Voluntary organized team activities, also known as OTAs, begin (Week 1). OTAs are voluntary.

May 29-31: OTAs Week 2

June 3-6: OTAs Week 3

June 11-13: Mandatory minicamp for the entire team

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After the mandatory minicamp, veterans head home to return for training camp. Rookies get additional time for meetings at the facility. However, there are no organized practices until training camp.

– Ryan Adverderada is the Managing Editor for Full Press Coverage Cardinals. Like and follow on Follow @ryanadverderada Follow @Cardinals and Facebook.