Mini-Camp: The Season Begins

This weekend, mini-camps will open up around the league for three days of spring practice with rookies and veterans mixing it up for the first time. Today, I discuss exactly what goes on at these camps and what they mean as teams start working toward a championship season in 2009.

The Season Begins

This weekend, the 2009 NFL season starts — sort of.

Sure, there are no games and no pads, but it’s the first time teams will practice together — with veterans and rookies on the same field in the same helmets.

Confidence is at an all-time high, and everyone with a microphone in their face will talk about getting to and winning the Super Bowl in Miami. And why not? It feels good to get out of the weight room and compete against your teammates in a football setting.

It’s nice to get back on the grass, in the huddle and into some drills — even if it’s only for a short weekend.

And that’s what it comes down to — three days, usually with two practices a day on Friday and Saturday followed by a single practice on Sunday morning. It’s the introduction to the season and a way to break a sweat with a helmet on your head — which seems to weigh more and more every year you play in the league.

You find out if all that offseason work has made a difference in your game, your foot speed and your ability to change directions quicker than the previous year. Most of all, the first mini-camp of the season is a test run and full of mistakes because, well, it’s only spring.

But it’s a place to start.

Can it prove anything?

Not as much as the media plays it out.

I’ve always been a big believer — although coaches will tell you differently — that football teams are made in August, in full gear.

Mini-camp can add to your individual play, as I wrote above, but football is a violent contact sport that needs to be played in pads, not pajamas (shorts and helmets). There isn’t much you’re going to see out of the players this weekend — besides speed — that can help the coaching staff make judgments about the depth chart.

I saw so many players in my career who were “pajama stars” -- guys who could dominate a mini-camp practice, open up everyone’s eyes and make the coaches’ heads turn, only to never show up in August when the pads are on.

So when stories about your team come out this weekend, just take it all with a grain of salt — because if a linebacker you’ve never heard of makes all the plays, don’t put him on the roster yet. August will tell you what type of player he really is.

But above all the stuff I’ve just said, it’s a perfect opportunity for veterans to check out the rookies — especially the first-rounders — and make their own judgments about what these young guys can bring to a team.

Plus, pick out whom they’re going to target in August.

Why Do Rookies Struggle in Mini-Camp?

For starters, the speed.

Rookies aren’t used to the speed of the game, the speed that’s required to make a difference on every play and the speed that everyone has.

I was shocked during my first mini-camp in St. Louis to see how fast everyone — from Isaac Bruce to Orlando Pace — was on each and every play. Every position moves faster, every position practices faster and every position is the best of the best. Rookies are no longer the best players or the best athletes on the field anymore like the were in college.

These are men — professional athletes who are being paid to do this for a living.

Condititong is also a major, major factor. The veterans have been lifting weights and running to play the game of football. Rookies have been lifting weights and running to get ready for the Combine and their pro days, and they’re usually exhausted after the first drill — and there are still two hours of practice left. I was flat-out dead-tired about 10 minutes into my first mini-camp practice.

And last, rookies can get “star-struck.”

I wore No. 27 in St. Louis, and Marshall Faulk wore No. 28, so our lockers were right next to each other. The Rams had just won the Super Bowl, and every time Marshall sat down at his locker, my throat would seize and I’d be unable to talk.

I don’t think I said a word to him until June.

Is Mini-Camp Worth It?

Yes and no.

It’s good to get together as a team. I’ve always been a fan of building teams and chemistry. Mini-camp provides a chance to get in the huddle with your teammates, run your offense and defense together and get back to a football-type atmosphere.

Chemistry can start to build something that’s just as important as the playbook.

On the other hand, from an absolute football perspective, it can get old by Saturday afternoon for veterans. They’ve done these weekend mini-camps every year throughout their careers, and they all know that while they can work on their footwork and technique, until you have to block and tackle in full gear at the same time, it isn’t “real” football yet.

It’s a shadow of the game you play on Sundays.

Yes, mini-camp is a traditional introduction to the season that lies ahead. It tells you as a player that it’s time to start preparing for another grueling 16-game journey in the NFL. It brings rookies into the pro game and teaches them a thing or two about how to work, how to act and what’s going to be expected of them from a mental perspective in the playbook and the film room.

That will all change again in August, when not only will they have to play the game with pads, they’ll have to avoid the veterans who are coming to get them and really introduce them to the NFL. That’s when the season officially begins, when players begin to fight for roster spots.

And that will be here before you know it. Yes, NFL football is in the air.

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