Allen Park — A lot has changed in the NFL since Lions head coach Dan Campbell’s playing days, but there is perhaps no time of year where the culture shift is more noticeable than during training camp.
Campbell on Tuesday said the league and its players are better off for the changes that have come to practice time and the allowance of contact while discussing the challenge of acclimating players for the season and trying to keep them healthy.
Lions head coach Dan Campbell looks on during training camp.
While reduction in practice time, live contact and preseason reps have all been meant to benefit player safety, Campbell said there’s a fine line between running the players into the ground and not preparing them enough.
“When you go live, the intensity goes way up. The exertion that puts on the body is totally different and your players need that because they have to do that on Sunday for 70 plays, so I don’t want that to be the first time,” Campbell said.
“There’s going to be some of these guys that we don’t play in the preseason, so I don’t want this heavy exertion, all this torque through their body, to be the first time in 70 plays on Sunday. They need to get it now on grass. That’s another reason why we do it. But it is always a fine line. Listen, there’s nothing easy about it, but I just feel like it’s what’s best for our guys and our team.”
Two-a-days were eliminated in the 2011 collective bargaining agreement, three years after Campbell retired as a player. Some could argue the reduced practice time can lead to sloppy play league-wide to start the season, but Campbell still believes the new rules in place are a net positive for the players — even if he wishes they had more time in pads.
“Listen, the days of the two-a-days — at some point in this camp I’m going to put up the old two-a-day schedule so our players can see it and the two scripts for the practices,” Campbell said. “I think we are better off for (the new rules). The body — this game has changed so much and the athletes are so much different, and I think they’re geared so much higher now than it was back then. Everything felt like a marathon and the game was so much more in a box — downhill, run game, power, two back, heavy personnel. There was just so much more of that. Then once the spread offense came in, the athletes changed, so I think this is a good thing where we’re at.
“The only thing that I wish, let’s try not to tinker with the rules of the game. I like that we’re trying to take care of the players and the body doesn’t need that type of beating, but man, the more we start dialing back — we still play in pads. The game is still in pads. I just hate to lose the element of what made the game the game. That’s all. But we’re going to try and squeeze everything out of it that we can. That’s how we play football here.”
Back in Campbell’s day, a light day constituted of being allowed to take off practice pants and put on shorts for the second practice session.
“If you’re with Coach (Bill) Parcells, if you’re really lucky, he’ll take the pants off in the afternoon. You’re still in shoulder pads and it’s still two-and-a-half hours. But, ‘Pants are off guys,’ and that was like, ‘What a treat.’ You just slip the shorts on with the shoulder pads and here we go, man. Nine-on-seven. But that was life, right?”
Campbell’s ability to put himself in his players’ shoes is one of the reasons why he quickly became one of the most beloved coaches in the NFL, both internally and externally. That applies not just to the way he runs practices, or the effort he puts into player safety, but also the way he looks after them mentally.
After offensive tackle Taylor Decker on Monday detailed a “man-to-man” conversation he had with Campbell about his extension, the Lions coach talked about how his open-door policy was shaped by his own playing experience.
“I’ve told the guys from Day 1 if something is bothering you, you can always — (general manager) Brad (Holmes) and myself, come talk to us and we will tell you what our mindset is, where we’re at, what we’re thinking,” Campbell said. “We’re not going to shy away from that, so we’ve told everybody that.
“I remember what it was like as a player and I was lied to at one point, and I will never do that to a player. So even if it’s going to hurt a little bit, I want him to know the truth.”
