As yesterday's FanHouse NFL Liveblog discussed, sometimes we hear more about NFL players who are getting in trouble, than the ones who don't.Ross Tucker, in a worth-reading SI.com story talks about the temptations that NFL players face in their downtime, and the ways that NFL teams are dealing with it. One way is to shorten the time between the offseason program and training camp:
Instead of beginning in mid- to late-March and finishing in mid- to late-June, teams could easily push those dates back in an effort to close the gap of time before training camp. Teams could potentially shift the beginning of their allotted offseason time to the second week of April and finish it sometime in early July and still give the players a couple of weeks off to mentally re-charge before the rigors of training camp begins. This not only would help teams keep a shorter leash on their players, but also satisfy coaches who often worry their players are not putting the time in working out and studying their playbooks during the downtime.
One team subscribing to this theory is Houston. The Texans started their offseason program March 31 and won't conclude until the week after July 4th, leaving less than two weeks between the end of the program and the start of training camp on July 25. It's clear Texans GM Rick Smith and coach Gary Kubiak are hoping this wrinkle will pay dividends on the field.
The theory of a shorter time between the offseason program and the training camp seems to make sense to me, but Tucker cites unnamed league sources who explain why teams are reluctant to do this. It's a copycat league, and well, over-worked coaches would miss their traditional vacation time.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-26-2008 @ 8:59AM
JAlper said...
I think it's a smart move by the Texans but one thing I would have liked to see Tucker address, especially as a former NFL player, is why adults need to be monitored as much as possible. It would be interesting to hear his thoughts about why football players are so prone to making bad decisions in their time off.
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6-26-2008 @ 9:22AM
Stephanie Stradley said...
Josh-
I know that the article doesn't address why NFL players needed to be monitored, but I have some thoughts on this:
1. I think players throughout the history of the league have done some sketchy things. Nowadays, DWIs and spousal abuse charges are taken more seriously.
2. NFL players are young with a large amount of money all at once. Many of them came from backgrounds of having little. All sort of young men of different jobs get into trouble in their 20s--add money to it, and it adds attention.
3. It becomes teams' interest in particular because a. Goodell has suspended players without convictions b. In a league with a hard salary cap, if you lose a key player because of off-field stuff, you can really screw up your franchise.
4. The vast majority of players do not do bad stuff, and actually act pretty responsibly for young guys with their first real jobs. It's just that the stakes are so high for your franchise if a few guys do screw up, so teams have made this a priority.
As for the Texans, what is interesting to me is that by pushing the offseason program back, they are putting it more in the hottest weather of the year. I'm not sure that it would make a large difference conditioning-wise because their strength coach, Dan Riley believes in having the same lifting program offseason through the regular season:
http://www.houstontexans.com/news/Story.asp?story_id=3482
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6-26-2008 @ 12:14PM
Chris F. said...
I doubt this approach will work although I understand the sentiment behind it. When an individual behaves badly, then deal with the individual instead of punishing the entire team. They need to offer solutions that are pragmatic as well as conducive to justice.
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6-26-2008 @ 2:42PM
beef said...
How is this punishing the entire team?
I have a job where I sometimes travel and have to work late hours, and I get about 3 weeks of vacation/PTO time, so how is their job so much different than mine? We both get wages to perform. I have commissions, while they have roster and performance-based bonuses, and I could get fired at any time for not living up to my job/salary's requirements. I know that football is a game and should be fun (hell EVERYONE should be having a LITTLE fun doing what they do, regardless), but it's also their JOB.
My boss told me the other day that money never really changes anyone... It only makes people who they really were all along. So, if you're a drunken douchebag, who gets in bar fights, or beats up women, or does drugs, etc. (ad nauseum) once you have the monetary means, then you were always that same douchebag - You just didn't have any money. While, if you're a humble, honest guy, who gives back to the community, or just a guy who never gets in trouble by keeping to himself, that's who you always were. I thought there was some merit in that thinking.
Being a fan and scholar, what say you, Steph?
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6-26-2008 @ 2:51PM
Stephanie Stradley said...
Chris F-
I think the bigger issue is that the Texans tend to take a lot of players off their draft board if they are worried about character. They don't automatically exclude guys, and want to get to know them, but I think character is a higher priority for the Texans during the draft.
beef-
Your boss sounds like a sensible person to me. That being said, I think money can bring more attention to the bad acts and douchery. And can attract people to you that may not have paid attention before.
I also think that the car thing becomes a problem for a lot of athletes. You'd think that they would hire cars if they were going out to get their drink on, but I think this happens a lot:
1. Player gets $$$, buys flashy dream car(s).
2. Player wants to drive flashy car and show it to friends.
3. Player doesn't want to not drive flashy car.
4. Player doesn't hire driver, gets pulled over in his flashy car.
Some of those tricked cars are just asking police officers to pull you over, almost as much as riding around with a Legalize Pot sticker on the back of your ride. Players driving flashy cars make themselves targets for police and bad guys. Not saying whether that is fair or not, it is just the way it is.
Nice to hear from y'all on this subject.
Steph
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6-26-2008 @ 3:30PM
Stephanie Stradley said...
Interesting, the General says that the SI.com report about the Texans is completely offbase. (See comments section):
http://blogs.chron.com/nfl/2008/06/trupiano_elston_together_again.html
"{Mack, that's so off base it's not in the park. They ended their program two weeks ago. It's amazing how much bad info there is on the Internet. Where did you see this? -- JOHN}"
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