Arizona Cardinals offseason calendar: Important week begins as team has OTAs, rookie mini-camp

After two weeks of strength and conditioning drills and another two weeks of team drills against garbage cans, the next offseason phase begins tomorrow for the Arizona Cardinals. Starting on Tuesday will be the first round of organized team activities (OTAs).

It will be the first time that the offense and defense can go up against one another. They will still only play and work out in shorts, but they get to work actually facing a player.

The team will have OTAs Tuesday through Thursday. Following up OTAs will be mandatory for all the rookies. They will have three days of mini-camp.

There will be OTAs the following two weeks and then, from June 10-12, the team will have its mandatory mini-camp. That will open with Fan Fest at the stadium. Fans will be able to see the players work out and get autographs.

This week, from Tuesday to Thursday, everything is voluntary. I would expect almost all the players to be there, but there almost always are a couple of players missing, usually because of prior engagements and not because they just are not showing up.

Local media will have access to practice and get to talk to Bruce Arians, Carson Palmer and other players on Tuesday.