The Patriots work toward defending the Lombardi Trophy will officially begin April 20 at Gillette Stadium, the first day of the first phase of New England's 2015 offseason workout program.
As called for in the Collective Bargaining Agreement, that day will kick off a nine-week program that's broken down into three phases and leads up to New England's mandatory veteran mini-camp June 16-18.
The first phase of the program includes two weeks of strength and conditioning work as well as rehabilitation workouts.
The second phase increases to three weeks of on-field workouts that can include individual player instruction and drills as well as team practice on a "separates" basis, meaning there can be no contact and no team offense vs. team defense drills.
The third phase of the program includes the final four weeks with teams permitted to conduct a total of 10 organized team activities (OTAs) that remain non-contact, but can include offense vs. defense in 7-on-7, 9-on-7 and 11-on-11 practice action.
Bill Belichick's team will hold its 10 OTA sessions on May 26, May 28-29, June 1, June 3-4, June 8-9 and June 11-12, leading up to the mandatory mini-camp June 16-18.
While most teams will begin the offseason program on April 20 like the Patriots, the seven teams with new head coaches are permitted to begin workouts earlier. The Falcons, Bills and Jets will get going on April 6, with the Raiders gathering the following day along with the 49ers. The Bears and Broncos get to work April 13. Those teams are also permitted to hold an additional voluntary veteran mini-camp, each of which will do so in either the third or fourth week of April.
