Training Camp

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Don’t Blame the Jets for Injury; Zach Wilson Needs the Reps

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Every player is different.

For me, my preference was to play and play as much as I could because that’s what I enjoyed doing. Preseason, regular season, post-season, it didn’t really matter. If I am going to practice all week and put in the work then I want the reward of playing. I do understand the other side of it from a coach and personnel perspective.

If you are the head coach or a general manager and you have a franchise quarterback or a quarterback you feel comfortable with leading your team to the postseason, then you want to be careful. But I think you have to look at the situation with Zach Wilson. For him, it hasn’t clicked yet for whatever reason. I think there are a lot of reasons at play and it’s not that he can’t play but that he needs reps. He needs reps with the guys he is going to play with in the regular season.

The risk that you take as a coach playing your starters is they run the risk of getting hurt. That has never changed historically but you have to play them to build some chemistry and continuity with his teammates. Snap counts, route-running, leadership, establishing a presence in the huddle, and just getting familiar with the environment are important. With just one year as the starter, yeah that helps, but in my opinion, it doesn’t get you comfortable enough.

This makes every rep you take an important rep as far as leading your team.

You run the risk of getting hurt but to me, getting valuable reps and chemistry outweighs the chance of getting hurt. You obviously don’t wish that on any player but it is important to get that much-needed chemistry with the players but especially your receivers.

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Training Camp

Training Camp Confidential: Manning Mischief Terrorizes Colts Camp

Hall of Fame Team Executive

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Bill Polian shares a legendary training camp story about Peyton Manning and how he pranked multiple people one year during the Colts’ camp. Polian provides context regarding the terrain of their host site Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, and how they used golf carts to get around.

During the third week of camp, Polian realized his golf cart was missing. It was later found on a raft in the middle of the lake. Polian light-heartedly confronts his primary suspect, who also happens to be his starting quarterback. A week later another golf cart was stolen. Manning’s response? “Wow, the cart thief strikes again.”

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Notable Players Fighting For Roster Spots

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Notable Players Fighting For Roster Spots
NFL teams are allowed to bring 90 players to training camp each year to fill just 53 roster spots. As a result, the competition is outrageously fierce. Careers, contracts and dreams are on the line. Here are some notable players battling for their roster spot this August.  Jalen Reagor WR (Philadelphia Eagles) The Eagles selected […]

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Bill Parcells: Telling Players How They Are Being Evaluated

Hall of Fame Head Coach

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Bill Parcells: Telling Players How They Are Being Evaluated
Most teams going into NFL training camp have an offensive and defensive installation schedule that was implemented, in part, in the OTA section of their practices in the spring or in the minicamps. That installation schedule is followed up at training camp, so that by the time camp’s completed, hopefully the players have been through […]

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Training Camp Confidential: Early Run-Ins With Big Names

Super Bowl Champion Coach

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When you look back on favorite training camp memories, it can often be the biggest guys on the field and biggest personalities in the locker room who make for some of the most interesting stories.

When I think back to my time as a coach at training camp, two of my favorite memories were created by guys people across the country knew—specifically because of their size. Those guys gave me a couple of my earliest and fondest memories in the NFL in general and then as a head coach.

In 1989, I followed Jimmy Johnson from the University of Miami to the NFL with the Dallas Cowboys. It was my first year as a coach in the league. And while we were at training camp, we ran things like we had at Miami.

It didn’t take long to get a reminder that we were in the NFL, though. One of our biggest names walked right in to Jimmy’s office one day and dropped a check on his desk. That wasn’t something I was used to seeing in the college world, and when I heard the reason why, it got even funnier.

It wasn’t long before I got one of my favorite memories as a head coach at camp, either. In fact, it ended up being my first decision I made as coach of the Chicago Bears—all about running a warm-up lap on the first day of camp, involving maybe the most famous name in the NFL at the time.

Just a couple of great stories from camp that I think back on as teams start camp every year.

Training Camp Confidential

The 33rd Team has unprecedented access to executives, coaches and players and wants to provide an in-depth, never-before-seen look into the best stories and memories from NFL Training Camps. Stay tuned to our Training Camp Page for more great stories like this one. 

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Training Camp Confidential: Lewis Catching a Player During Bed Checks

Super Bowl Champion Coach

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Some guys just think they can get one over on a coach…

My favorite training camp memory truly encapsulates how fun an NFL training camp story can be—at least, when you’re looking back at it in hindsight.

Back when I was a (much younger) assistant coach for the Baltimore Ravens, I was doing bed checks because our head coach at the time, Ted Marchibroda was an old school football coach like that. I got to a room and almost immediately noticed something was off. One bed clearly had someone in it, the other clearly didn’t. What it did have though was the old-school pillow trick that still wasn’t fooling anyone…not that night.

Needless to say, that player’s position coach and Coach Marchibroda weren’t entirely happy about the situation.

The person responsible for that attempt at fooling me is a pretty notable name to boot. This, of course, only adds to the humor in looking back on this hilarious attempt at pulling the wool over my eyes. 

Thankfully, this story also ends with a young player learning a lesson in accountability and turning out to have a pretty great career.

Training Camp Confidential

The 33rd Team has unprecedented access to executives, coaches and players and wants to provide an in-depth, never-before-seen look into the best stories and memories from NFL Training Camps. Stay tuned to our Training Camp Page for more great stories like this one. 

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The EAGLES lead our NFL Offense Rankings

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The EAGLES lead our NFL Offense Rankings
PHILADELPHIA EAGLES This can be an explosive offense if the quarterback, Jalen Hurts, takes the next step. The Eagles have the weapons now with an established receiver, A.J. Brown, and solid youngsters DeVonta Smith and Quez Watkins, both vertical threats. They need more from Jalen Reagor, and Zach Pascal can be a threat. The tight […]

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