The end of the Memorial Day holiday weekend also marked the end of the offseason for several NFL teams, as 22 of the 32 teams began their Organized Team Activities (OTA) on Tuesday morning at team facilities across the league.

Unlike mandatory minicamps and training camp to follow, OTA are not required participation periods by NFL teams, but most are well attended and offer the first glimpse at the team’s preparation for a new season. Here are some of the highlights from around the league on Day 1.

The 2015 Super Bowl Champion Patriots opened an important OTA with quarterbacks Tom Brady and Jimmy Garoppolo both taking reps. Garoppolo is expected to get a complement of first team reps in OTA as the team awaits the results of Brady’s suspension appeal.

Elsewhere in the AFC East, Ndamukong Suh made his first appearance in Miami colors and made a big first impression at Dolphins camp, leaving Phins center Mike Pouncey with his hands full.

“He’s coming off that ball full speed every play.” Pouncey told the Miami Herald. “He’s a guy who really uses the snap count to his advantage. He gets off the ball really fast, and that’s part of his game.”

Up north, the Cleveland Browns also began OTA on Tuesday with quarterbacks Josh McCown and Johnny Manziel working side by side. Manziel, who only recently completed a stay in rehab, worked with the second team and his new teammate and de-facto mentor McCown told the Akron Beacon Journal that, since he joined the team, all he’s seen is Johnny Football putting in all the work necessary to be successful.

“I would say to this point from everything I’ve seen, every day is a good day,”McCown said. “He’s put one good day on top of another, and I’m really proud of him for that. He’s in there working and asking questions and staying late and doing all the little things to play this position because this position is very demanding and it’s demanding of a lot of things — emotionally, your time and effort.”

In Jacksonville, the Jaguars kicked off OTA after an important and eventful offseason with their own second year quarterback, Blake Bortles, showing off improved mechanics. Bortles worked with quarterback guru Tom House on his delivery this offseason and on Day 1 of his second OTA, the young quarterback drew rave reviews. Allen Hurns, one of several Jaguars receivers who spent time with Bortles in California this offseason as he worked with House, told ESPN.com that the difference in Bortles’ mechanics is notable in the way the ball comes at a receiver.

“Coming in last year he was working on his spirals, so this offseason I worked with him and his balls are getting a lot faster,” Hurns said. “You could see the progression as far as the ball, getting out of your breaks, the spirals, the timing down pat as far as his releases of the ball.”

Out in Seattle, the two-time defending NFC Champions opened camp without several new and familiar faces, including tight end Jimmy Graham and quarterback Russell Wilson, who both were absent to attend the funeral of Graham’s personal manager. Also missing were defensive end Cliff Avril, who is likewise attending to a personal matter, and defensive end Michael Bennett who is holding out for a new contract. The team’s secondary, which was notably wounded for the Super Bowl, was all hands on deck. Safety Earl Thomas was present but remains sidelined following offseason shoulder surgery, however safety Kam Chancellor, who played in the Super Bowl with a torn MCL and cornerback Richard Sherman who had ligament damage in his elbow, both participated in Day 1 of OTA.

“I feel great,” Chancellor said. “I feel fast and feel strong. I feel better than any year at this time. This first time I’ve gotten to train and didn’t need any surgeries.”

Down in Dallas, another key player not in attendance stole the headlines, as wide receiver Dez Bryant remained absent following an offseason in which the team failed to come to terms with the star wide receiver on a contract extension and instead placed the franchise tag on him. Defensive end Greg Hardy also will miss this week’s activities as he awaits a Thursday hearing on the appeal of his 10-day suspension. But the good news for Cowboys fans was linebacker Sean Lee made it through Day 1 without incident. Lee notably tore his ACL on the first day of OTA last year.

KAEPERNICK MAKES ANOTHER SOCIAL MEDIA MISSTEP 

Throughout the offseason, Colin Kaepernick has been trying to launch a social media campaign for himself around the very strange and very forced hashtag #7tormsComing.

On Tuesday, he finally got it to take off, but not exactly in the way he intended.

Early Tuesday, Kaepernick created one of the dumbest and most insensitive social media posts we’ve ever seen from a pro athlete, using a picture of the horrible floods in Houston, Texas to draw attention to himself. At last report, the floods in Houston have caused five deaths, left several others missing and driven hundreds from their homes. This information was all readily available on the internet, but clearly Kaepernick didn’t do his research.

Instead he found a picture of several cars submerged in the flooding, jumped on Instagram and created a post with the caption “I warned you the #7tormsComing !!! #Houston”

After the post got an overwhelmingly negative response, Kaepernick, or someone else in his inner circle, finally thought better of the whole thing and deleted it. The quarterback then issued a half-hearted apology.

No disrespect intended! Prayers up!

— Colin Kaepernick (@Kaepernick7) May 26, 2015

Shortly thereafter, Kaep posted again to Instagram, this time a picture of himself shirtless at a party, clearly enjoying his last day off before the second week of 49ers minicamp begins. This was again met with many facepalms and much criticism, so Kaepernick, or more likely someone at his agency, typed out a more heartfelt response, screenshot it and posted it a couple hours later.

pic.twitter.com/qRDIjVdGUc

— Colin Kaepernick (@Kaepernick7) May 26, 2015

But the damage had already been done. Kaepernick came off as ignorant and tone deaf, and it’s just the latest in an ever-growing line of mistakes by the 49ers franchise quarterback on social media. And that’s a symptom of a larger disconnect between all athletes and their social audience. There isn’t enough thinking going on before posting and it’s a problem.

So here’s a plea to those players: do yourself a favor and, at minimum, run what you’re about to post by one person who has your best interests in mind. They’ll tell you its stupid and save you a lot of frustration and vitriol. Or you could just hire someone to handle all these things for you and more simply avoid the pitfalls. Social media is part of your identity. Treat it as such.

As for Colin Kaepernick, it’s time to cut a juicy check and donate it to the disaster relief efforts in Houston. That’s the right thing to do to mend fences. Also, enough with that #7tormsComing hashtag. It’s terrible.

COWBOYS SIGN FORMER 1ST ROUNDER

Though the Dallas Cowboys began OTA on Tuesday without one first round wide receiver in uniform, they brought in another one to add some depth to their receiving corps.

After an impressive tryout with the team last week, the Cowboys inked 2012 first round pick A.J. Jenkins to a one-year contract. Jenkins joins a receiving group that includes Dez Bryant, Terrance Williams, Cole Beasley, Devin Street and a slew of rookies trying to make an impression. But with Bryant absent from the voluntary activities due to lingering concerns over his contract and the franchise tag placed on him by Dallas, Jenkins will have an even bigger opportunity to show what he’s capable with the Cowboys over the next few weeks.

That’s something Jenkins hasn’t been able to do much of since he was drafted 30th overall by the San Francisco 49ers in 2012. The Niners only had him active for three games as a rookie and he was only targeted once.

After one season in San Fran, he was shipped to the Kansas City in exchange for 2011 first rounder Jonathan Baldwin. Jenkins went on to play all 16 games for KC in 2013, but was mostly used on special teams. He caught just eight passes for 130 yards. Then last season, he was active for just nine games, though he did start two, and caught nine passes for 93 yards. He was released by the Chiefs after the season.

It’s a mystery where the talent has gone for Jenkins, who was a coveted player in the 2012 draft after a 90-catch, 1,276-yard, eight touchdown senior season at Illinois in 2011. He went on to run a 4.39 40-yard dash at the combine, and was projected as a strong route runner with burst and separation speed. It simply never showed in San Francisco or Kansas City.

Dallas projects as the last chance for Jenkins to show what he’s capable of. The Cowboys do have a hole to fill at the fourth wide receiver position after Dwayne Harris left the team in free agency to sign with the rival New York Giants. Jenkins will likely compete with Street among others for that spot and the extra OTA reps in Bryant’s absence will afford him a chance to build a rapport with quarterback Tony Romo. Doing so has worked wonders for receivers in the past, most notably for former third rounder Laurent Robinson. After four mostly underwhelming years in Atlanta and St. Louis, Robinson went to Dallas in 2011 and thrived, catching 11 touchdowns from Romo in 14 games. He cashed that season in for a big payday from the Jacksonville Jaguars before concussions brought his career to an abrupt halt.

Provided he gets the opportunity, Jenkins could follow a similar path back to the potential teams saw in him that made him a first round pick back in 2012. Or he could simply fade away as another first round bust.