You see all these stories on the internet about who looked good in the spring at NFL practices.
When it comes to those stories, we are offering a consumer alert – caveat emptor – may the buyer beware.
Some snake oil is being sold here.
The spring is really one big classroom in the NFL world, on the field and in the meeting rooms. It’s about teaching and learning – systems and techniques. Also for conditioning.
It’s not really about style points.
I heard one NFL coordinator recently say there is no competition for positions in the spring. He said that the spring is about teaching the scheme and working on technique.
He said once training camp starts, that is when true competition for jobs starts.
So, be careful hanging your hat on spring assessments about who looked good, especially when the observers have no access to the playbook and what players are being asked to do in these practices that involve no pads and tackling.
Sometimes, what is perceived as an impressive play might be a broken play, where mistakes were made, but it looked good to the naked eye.
Take all these spring practice assessments with a mountain of salt.
Nobody is ascending to great heights, like the top of the Empire State Building, in the spring.
****
The training camp preview issue of Jets Confidential Magazine comes out in a couple of weeks, and you don’t want to miss it if you are a curious Jets fan. So much good stuff about Gang Green you won’t read anywhere else. To subscribe to the magazine, our Website Whispers (different content than the magazine, updated five days a week), or both, click an option below . . .
