Lost in the sudden quarterback controversy in Jacksonville is the fact that there has been a sudden, in 2017, increase in the physicality and overall demands of training camp under coach Doug Marrone and executive V.P. of football operations Tom Coughlin.
Albert Breer of TheMMQB.com paints a positive picture of the new approach, which includes the return of something that NFL players haven’t done for years: Up-downs.
“I just think when you’re talking about trying to be a physical team, it’s all in the mindset,” coach Doug Marrone told Breer. “So we’re gonna practice that way, with a lot of one-on-one run blocking, 9-on-7, combination blocking drills, things of that nature in the teaching progression. And the up-downs are something I’ve always done since I was a player, so for me, why should it end now?”
For many, it’s just starting now. And for some players, it’s not a welcome development.
Yes, some players are embracing the new approach. Others just aren’t wired that way; one league source told PFT that at least one player has remarked that the physically demanding camp will shorten his career by at least two years. Others have been quietly grumbling about it, since there really isn’t anything they can do for now. (Except maybe retire and then try to return and then get released.)
While Marrone was the one quoted, it’s Coughlin who is believed to have pushed the change. Coughlin obviously believes that these old-school ways will lead to positive results. So far, it hasn’t -- particularly at the quarterback position.