Every NFL team has 10 OTA practices in the spring as the final phase of the offseason program. There are strict rules during OTAs, the main one being that no live contact is permitted.
Here it is straight from the NFL:
Teams may conduct a total of 10 days of organized team practice activity, or “OTAs”. No live contact is permitted, but 7-on-7, 9-on-7, and 11-on-11 drills are permitted.
The Washington Commanders were in the final week of their OTAs this week when on Wednesday, one collision left head coach Ron Rivera furious.
Quarterback Carson Wentz was looking to connect with wide receiver Dyami Brown over the middle when safety Jeremy Reaves, looking to make a play on the ball, collided with Brown, and the second-year wideout was down for several minutes.
According to Bijan Todd of NBC Sports Washington, Rivera shouted, “Who was the f*****g safety?!”.
Reaves quickly acknowledged it was him and Rivera spoke to him privately before calling the team over.
After practice, a noticeably calmed Rivera spoke about the incident to reporters.
“Well, it’s one of the things that’s been a topic of conversation,” he said. “We just got to be careful and work with each other. You know, the last thing we want is somebody to be hurt. And we’re fortunate that, you know, Dyami got a little sore shoulder and that’s about it. Thank goodness. But still, you know, there’s a certain discipline that I try to get across to the guys that they understand that when we talk about doing things a specific way, there’s a reason why. The reason why is we don’t want to see guys get hurt, but that’s part of the discipline. And that’s part of the things that we still have to learn.”
Washington didn’t violate any NFL rules with the collision as Reaves wasn’t trying to make contact with Brown. He even addressed it on Twitter.
Was playing the ball, I didn’t see him. That’s on me fasho though
my boy solid https://t.co/SDFINeSOwd
— Jeremy Reaves (@JR1ERA) June 8, 2022
Reaves is a popular player among his coaches and teammates. A hard worker, Reaves has been with Washington since 2018 and always plays well when he receives opportunities with the defense.
Fortunately, Brown is fine, and for Rivera, it was a teachable moment for his team.
“We’ve got to be smarter than that,” Rivera said. “I mean that’s the discipline that I’m talking about. Understanding if he’d come up and pulled up at the last second, we’d have known, he’d been there. You know what I’m saying? We don’t need to see the collision.”
Rivera also praised Reaves.
“I told Jeremy, I’m disappointed in him because I know who he is,” Rivera said. “And he’s the right kind of guy. He’s the kind of guy you want on your football team, the kind of guy you want on the football field.”