Washington Redskins players have scheduled their next set of informal practices for June 14-16, special teams captain Lorenzo Alexander said Thursday.
Veterans organized two such practices in April and three last week in order to build camaraderie, introduce new draft picks to the playbook and refresh themselves on the team’s offensive and defensive schemes.
The lockout has postponed the Redskins’ official offseason program, prevented players from interacting with coaches and kept them out of team headquarters.
About 30 players attended informal practices in April and 40 showed up last week. The workouts were held at a Northern Virginia high school without coaches present.
Despite the informality, players left last week’s three-day set of practices with a significant sense of accomplishment.
“[Last season] was a big learning curve for us, so we knew how important it is for us get back working together,” linebacker London Fletcher said at the conclusion of practices last week. “We’re already more acclimated to the system. Just get back and get the work that we need and implement the rookies just so we can stay sharp.”
The timing of the practices later this month coincides with what would have been the end of the offseason program under normal circumstances.
Players usually have off from mid-June until training camp in late July, but Alexander said veterans might schedule more workouts for July if no end to the lockout is in sight.
“We’ll just play it by ear,” he said. “We haven’t had a lot of time together as it is.”
• Rich Campbell can be reached at rcampbell@washingtontimes.com.
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