Mason's Mailbag: Tight end still in play for the draft?

[Miles]

#AskMase What are the main differences between modern training camps and ... an old school-type camp? Logistics or mentality or both?


-- Mile High Memories (@MileHighMems on Twitter)


I expect it will actually be more about fundamentals and developing them within the scheme. Thus, good technique becomes habit, so it's not something about which players must think; they can simply react and play. It then becomes easier to incorporate more complex concepts once a solid base of understanding and fundamentals exists. There could be more camp days with tackling, but even then, expect prudence and limits; the first goal remains to ensure readiness and full strength for the regular season.


Fangio indicated at the Annual League Meeting that teaching, rather than situational drills, will be the first focal point of on-field work, starting with OTAs.


“[Situational work] won’t be a major part early because we want to teach our systems first," he said. "We’re going to stress teaching our systems first, and once we feel comfortable there, then we’ll do a lot of work in those areas."


What you will not see is "old-school" in the Bear Bryant "Junction Boys" vein. Here is an example of what NOT to expect:


In 1987, I witnessed NFL training camp for the first time. My dad took me to watch the Buccaneers practice at Pepin-Rood Stadium on the campus of the University of Tampa. As we sat in the shade of a covered grandstand, then-coach Ray Perkins -- a Bryant disciple from the early 1960s -- ground his Bucs through the first of three practices that day. That isn't a typo; the Bucs really did have three-a-days in the searing, stifling Florida heat. Including warmups, the players were on the field for upwards of five-and-a-half hours per day.


The goal was to have a team that would be tougher in the second half of games -- and the season. A three-game midseason stretch in which the Bucs were outscored 55-3 in the fourth quarter and barfed up late-game leads of 26-14 and 28-3 proved that the opposite was true. The team was out of gas and lost its final eight games.


The collective bargaining agreement between the NFL and NFLPA has the following regulations to ensure such camps do not return:

• No more than four hours of on-field work in one day.
• Only one practice in pads per day. It cannot exceed three hours. The other session must be a walk-through.
• No pads on the first three days of training camp.