CLEVELAND, Ohio — In the NFL, the word “voluntary” does a lot of heavy lifting. Officially, Organized Team Activities (OTAs) are optional for players. Contractually, no one can be punished for skipping them. But the reality, as evidenced by recent discussions surrounding the Cleveland Browns, is far more nuanced.
When stars like Myles Garrett and David Njoku choose to skip these sessions, the impact extends far beyond their personal preparation. It affects the entire team ecosystem in ways that aren’t immediately obvious to casual observers.
“Myles has taken it upon himself to be the leader of the entire football team, yet he made the interesting choice of not coming to OTAs,” noted Browns beat reporter Mary Kay Cabot during a recent Orange and Brown Talk podcast, highlighting the perceived contradiction between Garrett’s stated leadership goals and his absence from these team-building sessions.
The issue isn’t necessarily about conditioning or whether these established veterans know the playbook. It’s about the missed opportunities for mentorship, team chemistry, and the subtle teaching moments that happen organically when veterans and rookies share the practice field.
Cabot provided a concrete example: “We watched (Garrett) spend some time talking to Dawand Jones. That’s helpful. Dawand Jones is trying to figure out how to play left tackle full time, a new position, and to try to deal with Myles Garrett and try to ask him all of the things that a tackle, a defensive end is going to do to him. That’s useful. That’s helpful.”
These interactions – a veteran explaining techniques to a younger player, or simply demonstrating the professional standard – are invaluable yet impossible to replicate when key figures are absent.
For a team trying to recover from a disastrous 3-14 season, these small moments take on greater significance. The Browns are installing new offensive concepts under new offesnive coordinator Tommy Rees, integrating new players, and trying to rebuild the team culture that seemed to deteriorate last season.
“Well, you’re installing a brand new offense again and we saw how much they struggled last year. They scored 15.2 points per game. They were amongst the league’s worst passing games,” Cabot explained. “They’re trying to develop chemistry and camaraderie with four different quarterbacks. It’s a quarterback competition. So I would think that mostly everybody would want to be here.”
The timing of these absences is particularly noteworthy. After a season where frustrations boiled over publicly, with Garrett himself being critical of the organization in multiple offseason interviews, his presence at voluntary workouts could have sent a powerful message about commitment to turning things around.
“I don’t have a problem with Myles Garrett skipping OTAs,” said Orange and Brown Talk host Dan Labbe. “But also, man, it would have been something, the message it would have sent after everything that happened this offseason and all those radio row interviews and 3-14, for him to have shown up, I think it would have spoken volumes about kind of how serious he’s taking things.”
The debate also extends to tight end David Njoku, whose absence raised concerns given the installation of a new offensive system. “I honestly wish David would have shown up more than Myles,” Labbe admitted. “And that’s more of like a, hey, you’re putting in this new offense, you got a young tight end. You’re going to be really important in all of this. It might have been helpful for you to be here.”
These absences create tangible consequences. Missed connections on timing routes, delayed chemistry with quarterbacks, and lost opportunities for younger players to learn from established veterans can all impact early-season performance.
As Browns reporter Ashley Bastock succinctly put it: “If you’re going to lead with actions, for me, that means being there when you don’t have to be there necessarily.”
While no one questions the work ethic or commitment of players who skip voluntary sessions, the reality remains: in the competitive landscape of the NFL, every missed opportunity matters. Especially for a team trying to climb out of the cellar.
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