NFL rules say Chiefs rookies Marcus Peters, Steven Nelson will have to miss next offseason workouts

Monday’s final rookie minicamp practice will be the last one for cornerbacks Marcus Peters and Steven Nelson — for a while, at least.

Peters, a first-round pick out of Washington, and Nelson, a third-round pick out of Oregon State, will be headed back to their respective schools this week to finish up classes. They will miss all 10 of the Chiefs’ voluntary offseason workouts, because the NFL prohibits players from practicing with their new teams until their college’s academic calendar is complete.

Final exams for Washington and Oregon State — which run on the quarter system — won’t be done until mid-June. Both will return in time for the mandatory three-day minicamp, which starts June 16.

“Well, you wish they were here just for the reps, but can it be done when they’re not here? Yeah, it can be done,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said. “And so you’ve got to do some different things. You’ve got to communicate with them, obviously, as a coach and go through whatever you can go through with them and talk to them, make sure they stay up on that, so that’s what we’ll do.”

The Chiefs have experience doing so. Last year’s fourth-round pick, running back De’Anthony Thomas, missed the same amount of time while he finished up his coursework at Oregon.

The Chiefs’ other seven draft picks are expected to participate in OTAs.

This story was originally published May 18, 2015 at 3:38 PM with the headline "NFL rules say Chiefs rookies Marcus Peters, Steven Nelson will have to miss next offseason workouts."