Mark Madden: Despite what Cameron Heyward says, NFL rookies need to attend minicamp

The Steelers’ Cameron Heyward wants those invited to not attend the team’s minicamp for rookies this weekend. He posted this on Instagram:

“For the ROOKIES and FREE AGENTS find your vets tell them to get you up to speed. Trust me y’all ain’t missing anything you will still get your chance to show your talent in camp when it really matters. It’s all VOLUNTARY but fellas don’t let them FEAR you into showing up.”

Pardon me, Cam, but aren’t you trying to “fear” the rookies into not showing up?

The NFL Players Association is clashing with the NFL over “voluntary” offseason workouts, including rookie minicamps. The union is sports’ weakest and mostly a joke. Get contracts guaranteed. Eliminate the franchise and transition tags, so free agency can actually be free. This issue is small potatoes, especially by comparison.

But the NFLPA is nonetheless right about this.

Covid eliminated everything but a bare-bones training camp last offseason. Much was conducted online. The NFL’s product did not suffer. Players prepared just fine on their own. Any offseason function that precedes training camp (OTAs, minicamps, etc.) is just a way for teams to exercise control over the players. They’re not necessary.

But that’s no excuse for the union to bully the rookies.

The rookies aren’t members of the union until they sign a contract. They are under no obligation to do what the NFLPA wants or even listen. How can veterans ask rookies to no-show their first team function, which would not get said rookies on the good side of management? The union doesn’t cut players. The teams do.

Maybe a first-round pick can afford to skip. A late-round pick can’t.

It looks like the veterans are trying to lessen the rookies’ chances of taking the veterans’ jobs. That probably isn’t the intent. But that’s how it looks.

Heyward is a true class act. He also is the team’s union rep.

This isn’t his finest hour.

What’s the trickle-down after the fact? Will veterans be mad at rookies who show up this weekend? Will it lead to a fractured locker room? Is Heyward fouling his own nest?

To repeat: Rookies aren’t NFLPA members. If they get cut, they might never be.

It’s an unfair stance to take with players who haven’t played a down of pro football.

The notion that it’s unsafe to stage on-site events because of the pandemic has come and gone. Vaccination is readily available. Still citing covid is disingenuous.

The NFLPA says conducting the offseason virtually will cut down on injuries.

Uh, maybe not. Ask Denver tackle Ja’Wuan James.

If a player gets hurt while not training at his team’s facility, the team doesn’t have to pay him. James tore his Achilles doing just that. He could be out $9.85 million, his salary for 2021. (That’s as per the NFL CBA. More great negotiating by the NFLPA.)

I find it hard to believe Heyward, as a rookie, would not have shown up for rookie minicamp because he was asked to do so by a union he didn’t yet belong to. I bet Heyward would have felt the request was unreasonable.

OTAs start May 25. Steelers veterans reportedly will boycott any offseason workouts that aren’t mandatory. Perhaps that will hold true for players like Heyward, who have jobs locked up. But what about those at the roster’s fringes, or practice-squad members? What about those who have workout incentives in their contracts?

There’s one big difference: Those players are union members. Rookies aren’t.