HOUSTON -- The Houston Texans have canceled their mandatory minicamp for June 15-17 because the team "accomplished what we wanted to get accomplished," coach David Culley said Wednesday.
Because minicamp has been canceled, it means quarterback Deshaun Watson cannot be fined for missing the team's spring workouts. Watson did not show up for the voluntary OTAs and would have been fined $95,877 if he had missed a mandatory three-day minicamp.
Watson was not expected to show up for spring workouts after asking for a trade in January. He is also facing 22 active lawsuits alleging sexual assault and inappropriate behavior.
Culley said he met with leaders on the team during the offseason and came to an agreement that if there was good enough attendance at voluntary OTAs, the team would cancel the mandatory minicamp.
"We felt like we needed to make sure that for at least a good four weeks during the offseason that we had as many players here as possible, this being voluntary," Culley said.
The Indianapolis Colts and Philadelphia Eagles also canceled their mandatory minicamps earlier in the offseason, and the San Francisco 49ers on Wednesday also announced they canceled their program.
"It was more important for us to make sure that we had as many people as we needed to be here as possible to be able to learn what we're doing," Culley said. "... That's why we decided not to do the minicamp because our attendance has been great for us here. We got accomplished what we wanted to get accomplished. We felt like that getting them here was more important than being able to just have those two and a half days of minicamp. And we feel like we got that done."
