NFL veteran: Now ‘is one of the most uncertain times’
The NFL and its players will soon begin to feel the next wave of impacts of the coronavirus.
Offseason programs normally would gear up in the coming weeks. For some players, such as newly signed free agents, this nine-week period of the calendar (which features voluntary group workouts that eventually transition into classroom sessions and then practices) provides an introduction to their new work environments, teammates, coaches and playbooks.
But with leaguewide restrictions in place to help slow the spread of the virus, the doors to team facilities will remain shut, meaning players must do their workouts on their own, and it appears likely that those introductions will not take place until training camp – if business has returned to normal by late July.
At virtually every corner of our country, life has been altered by COVID-19. The NFL is no different, even in the simplest regards.
You’re not the only one forced to
make do as your local fitness center remains closed. NFL players also are forced to develop contingency plans.
The NFL’s player body features a wide spectrum of financial situations, so the lack of an offseason program presents varying hurdles. While some players might have full-scale home gyms, others have only a limited collection of exercise equipment pieces, and many have none at all. They normally would use the weight rooms at their team facilities to work out, even on their off days.
Now they’re forced to adapt while expected to remain prepared for when they can return to “normal” work routines. In recent days, strength coaches have sent out modified workouts, then those plans have to be adjusted further depending on the player.
“Not being able to go to the facility and see my trainers, my strength coaches, that’s been an adjustment. It’s funny because you kind of go back to what was life like for me as an athlete before I had a world-class facility,” says Vikings tight end Kyle Rudolph, who usually trained at team headquarters in Eagan, Minnesota, year round. “I did a lot of pushups, a lot of situps. I ran around the neighborhood; I ran in the yard. You try to find a park or an open field. And that’s kind of what I’ve resorted to. Thankfully, I’m fortunate now to be in a different situation than I was when I was in middle school and trying to work out. So we do have some fitness equipment here at the house. … We’ve been in direct communication with Mark Uyeyama, our head strength coach, and Eric Sugarman, our head trainer, and they send out emails and they have to assume, ‘OK, I’m sending this email to somebody who has no fitness equipment, and what can they do, and what position do they play, what are their job requirements on Sundays during the fall and how do we work back from that?’ Whether it’s giving us functional movements that you can go out in your backyard or out in your front yard or go in the driveway, or if you can find a park nearby, go to the park, and it allows us to get at least some functional movement and then it goes up from there.”
Incoming rookies will face the stiffes t challenge this offseason.
The draft is still set to take place April 23-25, though no one knows exactly what that presentation will look like. But rookie minicamps, which normally take place for three days a week or two after the draft and give new players a foundation to build on, now seem unlikely to happen in May. So those draft picks and undrafted free agents very likely will have to train on their own and wait until training camp to begin learning playbooks.
Rudolph knows what that’s like. His rookie year in 2011 took place amid the NFL lockout, when players were barred from team facilities and having contact with their coaches as the owners and NFL Players Association executives engaged in a labor dispute.
“I didn’t have an offseason as a rookie,” Rudolph explained. “I didn’t have an opportunity to get a playbook, I didn’t have an opportunity to talk to coaches. So in essence, if that’s that’s the projection for this year’s offseason, then they will have gone through exactly what my class went through as rookies. The lockout ended in late July; we were told to get to Minneapolis as soon as possible; we were given a playbook, and we went to training camp. There was no rookie minicamp where you’re practicing against other rookies, and then you get integrated with the vets; you have have OTAs, vet minicamp, and then training camp. So to be quite honest, it would be very similar to what it was like in 2011 when we had the lockout and it was not an offseason.”
Rudolph continued: “It definitely spikes the learning curve, if you would. And for us, I remember as rookies – when we showed up – we had to essentially make up for 13 lost practices, three lost rookie minicamp days and nine weeks of in-classroom learning. And the league wasn’t going to slow down for us, other teams weren’t going to slow down and just say, ‘Oh well, these rookies didn’t have an opportunity to get in their playbook or to practice with other NFL players, so we’ll have to slow down for them and get them to speed.’ It’s your job, as a player, to learn as quickly as you can, to kind of hit the ground running and make up for as much lost time as possible because that’s one thing about this league – they’re not gonna slow down for you because you’re a rookie and you didn’t have an opportunity to have an offseason. As a rookie, you’ve got to take it as a challenge and try to just learn and adapt and be as quick on your feet as possible.”
The one difference this time around is that coaches presumably will at least be able to communicate with their rookies and veterans. But everything else remains in limbo.
“It’s definitely one of the most uncertain times, definitely in my career and I would say for most people,” Rudolph said. “If anyone was to sit on here and (say), ‘Well, I’m extremely confident that we’re not going to have any issues come late July, August, September,’ when things are supposed to be really rolling for us, I wouldn’t know how they’re able to say that. Obviously, I’m confident in the NFL and the decisions that each organization will make moving forward. I can just say that I hope it doesn’t come to that. I hope this is something that, come midsummer time, we’re all looking back and it’s in the rearview mirror and we’re on the other side of this.”
Rudolph is right. Despite daily and weekly news conferences held by local and national government officials, and projections and modifications of timelines and restrictions, no one really knows what the next week, month or remainder of the calendar year really holds.
But all he and his NFL brethren – like the rest of us – can do is practice the best forms of preparedness and flexibility possible while hoping for the best.