Dan Wetzel
Yahoo! Sports Exclusive
DETROIT – The NFL has banned Detroit Lions players from working out Monday and Tuesday at the team's practice facility.
This is major news. Judging by their almost 50 years of futility, who knew the Lions worked out at all, let alone that the franchise had an actual building dedicated to practice?
But it's true. The Lions do have a plush, modern practice facility, where players routinely break a sweat. And not just practicing anything, but practicing actual football plays. Seriously.
In fact, according to a union grievance, since hard-nosed coach Rod Marinelli took over in January, the players have been forced to practice too hard.
The NFL Players Association and the NFL Management Council in a joint statement Friday agreed that the Lions broke rules involving offseason activities and punished the team by prohibiting two days of supervised workouts.
Booth Newspapers originally reported that players were upset that April minicamp drills – where "contact work or use of pads" is not allowed – were too physical.
"The players were upset at the high intensity and aggressiveness demanded in the team drills and believed the coaching staff was going over the line," Tom Kowalski reported, citing a source.
And so, the players complained, the union and the league agreed and now they get two days off, with pay.
