Ian Rapoport of the Boston Herald is reporting that the New England Patriots' 3rd round pick, and potential #3 wide receiver, Taylor Price is going to miss part of the Patriots' organized team activities. And it's not his fault.
Price's college, Ohio University, doesn't have graduation until midway through June. An NFL rule prevents draftees from attending official team workouts until the draftee's school has ended its year. The earlier Price is allowed to be in New England is on June 12th because OU's graduation is June 11th.
So while it is unfair to place blame on anyone involved (except possibly the committee responsible for the rule), the fact remains that Price will fall behind. A lot. His main competition for playing time (2nd year WR Brandon Tate and 12th year WR Torry Holt) will get face time with Tom Brady and will have opportunities to better learn the team's offense first hand. Price will have to sit and wait.
I have set some pretty high expectations for Price, expecting him to be a #3 receiver by the end of the year, and I hope missing so much team time won't affect his development. He'll still have opportunities to be a part of the offense (it IS still only June), but he needs to be on a faster learning curve than every other player. I don't think missing OTAs will have any effect on whether or not Price makes the roster, but I do believe it will impact how soon he becomes a large player on our offense.