Joe Burrow should be getting ready to report to rookie minicamp
this month, then joining the veterans on the Cincinnati Bengals for
the rest of the offseason program.
But like everyone else around the NFL, Burrow is left on his own to
prepare for the season with facilities shut down because of the
COVID-19 pandemic, and unlikely to open until training camp at the
earliest.
”You have to find a way to get in your backyard and get reps in,”
Bengals coach Zac Taylor said. ”Whether it’s telling your
girlfriend or mom where to line up, or how many steps to take on
each route — just make sure you know it inside and outside. We’re
going to challenge our guys to get creative.”
The best comparison to what the NFL is going through this offseason
with no practices, in-person meetings or the usual bonding that
happens each spring came back in 2011 when team owners locked out
the players until July.
That led to no trades or free agency signings all offseason, then a
rushed process to get ready for training camp that summer, with
players finding new teams and learning new systems on the fly.
But it wasn’t detrimental to the No. 1 pick that year, the only
player before Burrow to win the Heisman Trophy, a national
championship and be drafted first overall. Cam Newton won the
starting job in Carolina and threw for more than 400 yards in each
of his first starts on the way to winning Offensive Rookie of the
Year honors.
He wasn’t alone making an early impact. Andy Dalton went from a
second-round pick in Cincinnati to a Week 1 starter and led the
Bengals to the playoffs. Other rookies such as Von Miller, J.J.
Watt, Julio Jones, A.J. Green, Patrick Peterson and Aldon Smith
made major impacts.
In all, more rookies started Week 1 that season than in any
previous year since the merger. The 47 Week 1 starts for rookies
only was surpassed in 2012 and in 2019.
That success story from 2011 didn’t stop executives from taking the
lack of a traditional offseason into account in their draft
strategy. Raiders general manager Mike Mayock said he wanted to
concentrate most of his choices in the earlier rounds where he
believed the players were more finished products and would have an
easier time getting up to speed.
The Raiders made all seven of their picks in the first four rounds.
”We think there’s a pretty good chance we’re not going to see our
rookies in person until maybe training camp,” Mayock said. ”If
that’s the case, you better make sure your rookies are smart,
hardworking and accountable because they’re going to have a
shortened period of time to make the team.”
The decisions teams made went beyond draft strategy or trading
picks for veterans. It even played a role in free agency and
trades. The Bills opted to trade for a proven veteran, Stefon
Diggs, rather than draft a rookie in a receiver-rich draft.
With several veteran quarterbacks available on the market to
challenge Mitchell Trubisky in Chicago, the Bears opted to deal for
Nick Foles in part because he worked previously under head coach
Matt Nagy, offensive coordinator Bill Lazor and quarterbacks coach
John DeFelippo. Foles would have a more advanced understanding of
the offense.
That also played a role in Carolina. New Panthers coach Matt Rhule
brought in Teddy Bridgewater as a free agent instead of sticking
with Newton in part because Bridgewater and coordinator Joe Brady
spent time together in New Orleans.
”In a year like this especially, where we are all in our homes, I
think Teddy is a guy who has been in this offense, knows this
offense and had great familiarity with Joe,” Rhule said. ”It just
made sense to us.”
This situation has some key differences from 2011, when coaches
were prohibited from communicating with their players. But the
players had no limitations on how they would work out. Groups of
players on some teams even held their own offseason practices to
build chemistry.
Patriots coach Bill Belichick said he plans to use the next few
weeks to teach as much as possible so that players will be mentally
ready whenever training camp starts.
”The opportunity to communicate and teach was very, very limited
then,” Belichick said. ”Now, I’d say we’re looking at a situation
where the opportunity to train for some players may be more
limited, but our opportunity to communicate with them and teach
them, even though it’s remote, is infinitely better than what it
was during the lockout. So, we’ll just have to see how all that
plays out.”
The Patriots had the advantage in 2011 of having a veteran team
with a quarterback, Tom Brady, who had spent more than a decade
under Belichick. That won’t be the case this year with Jared
Stidham in line to take over after throwing only four passes as a
rookie last season.
Teams with first-year coaches weren’t at a major disadvantage in
2011, with San Francisco winning 13 games in Jim Harbaugh’s first
season; Denver making the playoffs under John Fox; Tennessee’s Mike
Munchak winning nine games; and Oakland’s Hue Jackson winning eight.
Ron Rivera also got his start that year in Carolina with Newton and
helped the Panthers improve from two wins to six. Now Rivera again
finds himself taking over a new team in Washington with a truncated
offseason program.
”I’m not overly concerned about it because I’ve gone through it,”
Rivera said. ”I just think the most important thing is to be
prepared and be ready and jump on it when you get the opportunity.”
—
AP Pro Football Writer Dave Campbell and Sports Writers Tim Booth,
Kyle Hightower, Joe Kay, Charles Odum, Steve Reed, John Wawrow and
Stephen Whyno contributed to this report
—
More AP NFL: https://apnews.com/NFL and https://twitter.com/AP-NFL
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