Training camp in its old form originated in the ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s (That’s 1900s). Players didn’t make a lot of money and most required off season employment to make ends meet. So training camp was designed for players to get in physical shape to play the game as well as learn the plays. This meant two-a-day practices for weeks at a time and six pre-season games to try to develop the timing and cohesiveness necessary to succeed.

Fast forward to now and the entire landscape has changed for a variety of reasons. Money plays a big role in everything. Because of the enormous amount of money involved now in the NFL, teams have placed more demands on players’ time and efforts. From March to July players are involved in “voluntary” workouts and meetings at the team’s facility. Don’t for a minute think that this is voluntary. Only the most secure of veterans, of which there are far and few between, challenge that premise.

Since veteran players and most draft choices are now learning the system before camp and are getting in great physical shape due to the advancements in knowledge and efforts of training procedures, then what is camp for? That’s a good question and the answer is based on “well that’s how we’ve always done it.”

It used to be that every team would go to a college campus and make that their team building experience. Now half of the teams stay at home at their multi-million dollar facility that has everything needed to get ready for the season. Since there are three or four months of meetings of some kind, the playbook is basically learned and many repetitions are taken before camp starts. The players are in great shape when they report to camp so what is accomplished?

Ok, Cowboy fans, your team will be in San Antonio for two weeks, Dallas for one week and then Oxnard for a few weeks. A lot of that is to sell t-shirts. The Cowboys are so popular that camp is a revenue producer. What about on the field? Mainly camp is to be used for refinement of the plays and to get used to wearing and using the pads. There are no more major scrimmages to see what we’ve got. One of the major objectives of camp is not to get anyone hurt--too valuable a commodity to lose in camp. Players who make the team? Because of all the work in the off season coaches and front office people pretty much know who is going to be on the team. There are 53 final spots and going to camp probably 50 are determined barring injury.

There will be five pre-season games (really four but the Cowboys play the Hall of Fame game this year) and I fully expect in the near future there will be two pre-season games and 18 regular season games. Two-a-day practices are reduced dramatically from old days to preserve and prepare the players.

QB’s: No new names will surface.
RB’s: No new names will surface
WR’s: Main focus will be development of Dez Bryant, how Williams does, as well as Crayton’s involvement.
OL: There will be competition for the valuable backup spots of which no one will know there names or think vital. The interest will be in Doug Free’s development, which is very important.
TE: No new names.
DL: Nothing new.
LB: Interest will be in development of Backup LBs and on draft choice Lee.
DB: Focus will be on Alan Ball’s production at safety
K: This will be important as they try to determine if Buehler is a reliable FG kicker as well as an outstanding KO man. This may be as important as there is in camp. The problem being there will be very few opportunities in games to truly decide.

So camp is upon us and there are a few items to touch up and refine. Watch for those aspects and hope for the main objective to be accomplished with no injuries. This is a good team and being healthy is a vital contributor to success.

Coach Joe can be heard on KHYI 95.3 on Tuesday nights 7-9pm and on ESPN radio. Come by and say hello at Hat Tricks Sports Bar and Grill in Lewisville--your home to great sports and great music.