It may be the oddest word in the NFL's day-to-day dictionary. Offseason. As in off and season, pinched together to make something that most players and coaches in the league may not really believe exists any longer. 'I don't think so, not like you'd think,' is how Denver Broncos cornerback Champ Bailey put it. 'I've always said I'm not always excited for it, but they pay me a lot of money to do my job and right now it's part of the job.' And how that part of the job will look in the coming years, should the league and the NFL Players Association hammer out a new collective bargaining agreement in the coming months, is an uncertain affair. Coaches and personnel executives, facing constant pressure to mesh ever-changing rosters in the era of free agency and win before they are fired, consider the time spent on the field in the offseason invaluable. Players, facing constant pressure to try to remain healthy, wonder if the future holds more or less of the practices. And while the majority of the workouts are classified as 'voluntary,' most players assume it will be difficult to keep up in their position battles if they do not attend. 'Here we haven't had any issues, but you do get those questions a lot from mostly younger players,' said Broncos quarterback Kyle Orton, the team's player representative for the NFLPA. 'It is important that everybody knows and certainly the rules are there for our protection. The season is a long one and the longer the offseason goes the longer it gets. 'I don't know what's going to get done in the CBA, but we talked about it a lot at our (union) meetings, and the offseason workouts were a big discussion point. I don't how we'll change, but there was some discussion about the ways it could be different. Maybe not more, maybe not less, but maybe just different.' At the moment a team's offseason program is basically a three-tiered affair. There is the offseason conditioning program, where players can work out, run and go through drills that enhance conditioning. There are no full offense against defense team practices with these and league rules state that they start 'on or about the last Monday in March' and have to conclude 10 days before the start of training camp. There are OTAs, or organized team activities. These are 14 full-team practices, without pads, no tackling and no full-contact drills are allowed. And then there is a three-day minicamp, the only part of an offseason program that can be made mandatory by a team and the only part a player can be fined for missing. Teams must designate to the league which three days of the offseason program will be mandatory. 'I think more guys show up now than when I first came into the league,' said Broncos linebacker Akin Ayodele, who is set to begin his ninth season. 'I think over time coaches have made it so that structurally it's not just one way. They've opened up what they're doing more. Different things work for different guys, different ways to use the same muscles and get the effect you want. 'A lot of old-school strength coaches it's just one way and that's it. I think we see more strength coaches doing more things, actually think outside of the box and I think that's some of why more guys participate now. And I think that will only grow and increase, that variety, as we go down the road.' The Broncos will wrap up the most intense part of their offseason program Friday, Saturday and Sunday with their three-day, mandatory minicamp. Their conditioning program will continue some after that, but the full team practices will have concluded. This year, as part of the evaluation that came from the team's 2-8 limp down the stretch last season head coach Josh McDaniels and strength and conditioning coach Rich Tuten have tried to adapt the workouts to specific position groups so defensive backs were not training the same way as offensive linemen. Many people in the league believe, with the risk of injury always hanging over practice, future offseason workouts will likely emphasize conditioning more and that full contact could even be limited, depending on how negotiations go, in training camp. 'It's all been discussed in some way,' Orton said. 'It's an important time for everybody, I think, because the league is so competitive. What it all will look like, I don't know. I'm not sure anybody does right now.' 