Former Brown and present SI writer Ross Tucker wrote how refreshing it is that Redskins coach Jim Zorn is allowing four-year-and-up veterans to stay at home during training camp. Tucker describes camp as " … the brutality of multiple padded practices, the monotony of the daily meetings, and the grind of working from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. for six straight weeks. Compounding the physical agony of camp is the psychological discomfort of leaving their home and their loved ones, sometimes for a single bed in a college dorm room. Late night phone calls are really the only semblance of family time for a solid month."
It's pretty accurate. Every year during camp you can see guys starting to slump about the eighth day. One year in Miami after a particularly listless practice in 94-degree heat with 94 percent humidity (ever been to South Florida in August?), a player walked off the field and said: "That was basically two hours of guys just bumping into each other."
Training camp started when guys had offseason jobs. They needed the time to get in shape. Now they get in shape year-round. Despite this reality, NFL coaches would structure every day of a player's offseason. Coaches talk about all the mental toughness gained and all the bonding done in camp, but it all just seems silly. These guys work out year-round together, come in for mini-camps and "voluntary" OTAs, then beat the daylights out of each other in training camp — to the point that they're almost broken down. Yes, they're paid handsomely, but isn't it better for a team to be mentally tough and fresh and bonding in November and December? Don't wins and losses come down to the talent on the field and how it's utilized more than a meaningless early August practice in stifling heat? When you read Tucker's description, you really wonder if it's all worth it.
