On Football: Training camps' look defines strange times

Don't expect any footballs — or players — on fields at NFL training camps anytime too soon.

No blocking sleds. No pass-rush drills. No whistles.

As teams adhere to the medical protocols that wisely and necessarily have been ordered by the league and the players' union, any sort of football action might be delayed until mid-August.

Hopefully, no coaches are in a rush to get the blocking and route running, the passing and rushing and kicking going in earnest even after the coronavirus pandemic shut down since March anything but remote practices and workouts.

Strange times indeed.

“These first two weeks we need to gently ramp them up and get them ready to play. Everyone is coming from different areas and with different restrictions,” Chargers general manager Tom Telesco said. “We’re going to have to do different things. Without preseason games or combined team practices we will have to change up our schedule. Have to put them in more competitive situations and do the best we can.”

Doing the best they can in 2020 should mean keeping everyone safe and healthy, not chasing wins. That can come later if the NFL's plan fares better than has Major League Baseball's so far.

And there's no question that football organizations are paying close attention to MLB's situation.

"We understand that the virus is real," Eagles coach Doug Pederson says, "and we do everything we can in our powers to stay safe, protecting ourselves when we’re in the building, protecting our players, and it’s unfortunate what has happened. But we do have a lengthy set of protocols that we have to abide by, and this is our new normal right now, working in these conditions ...

“It’s something that we are going to embrace. We are going to make it a positive.”

How? What are the...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/On-Football-Training-camps-look-defines-strange-15440629.php