It makes sense to get rid of the delays between the first mini-camp, the mandatory mini-camp, and training camp. Never understood that. I think it would cut down on injuries. I like your idea of making it all a continuous process.No kidding. It's certainly come a long way from 50, 60 years ago, when training camp ran 6 or 7 weeks, or even a little longer - and they had 6 preseason games every year. By the time the season started, the teams were hitting on all cylinders right from Week One. Nowadays, the first few games of the seasonn are almost like an extensiopn of the preseason as far as the learning curve is concerned for younger players.
There is some talk now of changing that, moving the spring classes and OTAs into late June/early July and making training camp a continuous 8-week process ramping up to the season opener. The players' union is considering proposing that, on the theory that it would reduce soft tissue injuries. They feel that two periods of high-level physical activity packed into small time frames (separated by long periods of relative inactivity) are causing injuries because the players are pushing themselves too hard in the shorter blocks of time.
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NFL players union could propose trading spring practices for longer training camp
NFL teams wrapped up their mandatory minicamps this week leading into about a month-long break before the start of a grueling season that could approach seven months for the teamswww.journal-news.net
Maybe it makes sense to do something in May to get all the returning players and rookies together. I'm not even convinced that is needed. A later starting, longer camp would make the most sense. Especially now that the PS has been cut to three weeks. That would still make the start of the season a little sloppy - but I'm in favor of few to no PS games anyway.