On Wednesday afternoon, the Patriots announced that they were canceling Thursday’s organized team activity (OTA) session at Gillette Stadium.
It appears the cancellation wasn’t their call after all.
According to ESPN’s Mike Reiss, the Patriots are losing out on two days of OTAs due to a violation of league rules.
It’s unclear what rule the team broke to warrant the penalty from the league. 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, non-padded, and non-contact practices.