Aaron Rodgers recently shocked the NFL community by stating that football isn’t as physically “hard” as it used to be. According to A-Rod, the primary reason is the more relaxed training camps nowadays, which are a far cry from those of the last decade. Interestingly, legendary QB coach Quincy Avery and veteran NFL QB Luke McCown echoed Rodgers’ sentiment today, further amusing fans.
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Avery sparked the discourse on “X” today by reminding the current generation of NFL fans how, in his time, players had two-a-day pad practices every day of the camp. “I just want y’all to know we used to have 2 a days full pads EVERY DAY OF CAMP!” tweeted the QB coach.
Former Cleveland QB Luke McCown soon chimed in, reminiscing about the grueling experience he endured during the Browns’ 2004 camp. The former NFL star revealed that he could barely feel his body due to the constant physical ordeal he faced over the 21 days of camp. He wrote:
“For 21 days… Bro I’ll never forget my rookie training camp in Cleveland in 2004. Literally didn’t know what day it was.”
Avery and McCown’s camp system is a far cry from the practices today. The current generation of NFL stars has it much easier thanks to the NFL CBA, which prohibits “more than one padded practice per day”. However, this change is just the tip of the iceberg, as the NFL training camps have seen a slew of changes over the years.
The NFL training camps have evolved massively over the last decades
One of the major points in Aaron Rodgers’ comments on the current era of NFL’s current training camp was the lack of preseason games. “We used to play in preseason right, we’d play like you know 15 plays, then a quarter and a half, then end of the third quarter you know… Now you don’t even play in the preseason,” said the Jets QB.
While this can be justified by the emphasis on the strategic aspect of the game, it has to be noted that 0 preseason games are an anomaly when compared to the 50s era of the NFL. Senior NFL analyst and former player Gil Brandt recently revealed that contrary to current practices, there used to be six preseason games.
Moreover, the training camps used to be six weeks long, compared to just three and a half weeks in today’s off-season. The primary reason for the longer camps and intense physical training in the earlier eras was that most players weren’t fully committed to the sport; they had day jobs, so a longer stretch was needed to get them back in shape.
That said, the evolution in training camps is a testament to the ever-changing fitness and commercial landscape of the NFL. While a few fans see the change as a step backward in stringent standards, it must be noted that context is paramount in this case.
