Raiders wide receiver Tyrell Williams is glad not to be on Hard Knocks again this year.
Williams said he didn’t really grasp how big a distraction the reality TV cameras were last training camp until this year, when he has realized it’s a lot easier to focus on the task at hand without thinking about what’s going to end up on HBO.
“Last year, going through it, it didn’t feel like a big distraction until now and how smooth and how easy it has been,” Williams said, via the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “So last year I think it definitely was a distraction. We tried not to let it be, but I think it did get to some of us. It was just kind of annoying for sure. We have guys [now] who are excited to be here and guys that are excited to get on the field. Last year, we just couldn’t be ourselves, couldn’t really enjoy, couldn’t really settle in.”
Last year, of course, Hard Knocks constantly focused on Antonio Brown, and it’s possible that a team without such a distracting player wouldn’t be so distracted by Hard Knocks. The Rams and Chargers are hoping no players make themselves a distraction the way Brown did.
