The NFLPA on Monday filed a grievance with the league, challenging the Jacksonville Jaguars' plan to start their offseason program April 10, according to a source close to the situation.
The first day of offseason programs for NFL teams this year is April 17, but teams with new head coaches are allowed to start two weeks early, on April 3, according to the collective bargaining agreement. The Jaguars' coach is Doug Marrone, who was their interim head coach for the final two games of the 2016 season following the firing of Gus Bradley.
According to another league source, the Jaguars asked to start their offseason program April 3, claiming Marrone is a new head coach. The NFL, which has denied similar requests in the past from teams that elevated their interim coaches to full-time status in the offseason, offered a compromise solution and told the Jaguars they could start one week early instead of two, the second source said.
The NFLPA, upon learning of the early start date, filed its grievance on the grounds that the CBA offers no such compromise option and that the Jaguars should have to start April 17 along with the rest of the teams that do not have new head coaches.
At this time, the NFL has not responded to a request for comment regarding the Jaguars and the start date of their offseason program.
This is one of three CBA-related issues to arise with the Jaguars since Tom Coughlin took over as their executive vice president of football operations in January, and one of two NFLPA grievances currently pending against the team.
The other pending grievance involves former Jaguars defensive lineman Jared Odrick, who is in a dispute with the team over $5.5 million in salary that was guaranteed against injury and which the team has told him it will not pay after it cut him. That dispute between Odrick and the Jaguars is rooted in the team's request and Odrick's refusal to do his offseason injury rehab at the team facility -- something that is not required of players under the CBA.
An earlier dispute regarding Jaguars players being asked to report earlier than required for their offseason physicals was resolved among the team, the union and the league, the first source said.