One unintended consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic has been a change in how offseason training activities (OTAs) are conducted by the NFL. Last season sessions were done virtually via Zoom and players trained at their own facilities, mostly at home with guidance from trainers and teams’ health professionals. Players had tailor made protocols for conditioning, rehab, etc. developed by strength and conditioning coaches… along with many hours of Zoom meetings for each position group.
Buffalo Bills players as a whole made the transition through the abbreviated training camp last season just fine, but it did take the defense a lot longer to get up to speed than many of us anticipated. Feel free to toss out the old myth defenses develop faster in training camp than offenses because the Bills’ defense was horrid at the beginning of last season.
The official start of OTAs for the Buffalo Bills began on Monday (May 24). And of course the ‘Twitterverse’ was aflutter with commentary about who was missing (for ex/Diggs), as if it’s a sign of disloyalty if a player isn’t at the first OTA session in May. Insert rolling eye emoji here. We’re still only at the seventh inning of this COVID-19 pandemic and some folks get upset because a player isn’t at the first OTA session. Go figure.
Focus, Robyn. OK, the unintended consequence of the pandemic was how quickly NFL teams pivoted to Zoom meetings and flexibility regarding OTAs last season and what it meant for the future. The lack of physical presence at OTAs didn’t appear to hurt the product on the field after a few sputtering weeks into the 2020 NFL season. Naturally players began to question the wisdom of physically attending OTAs.
Fast forward to this season… OTAs are already in session for many NFL teams. What we may learn from this pandemic is that a “one size fits all” style of OTAs isn’t necessary and arguably not in the best interest for some players.
Each player brings their own medical/physical history with them and whether or not they have been vaccinated for COVID or have pre-existing conditions or situations that make it riskier for them to physically attend OTAs. So we might wish to be mindful and reserve judgment about a player just because they may not physically attend OTAs. It would also seem logical to think older players (which the Bills have few) might be at the point where “less is more” in terms of pushing their bodies hard during May.
Without question the biggest loss regarding OTAs was to the rookie class of 2020. You could see it took guys like A.J. Epenesa a lot longer last year to adjust to the NFL game. The opportunity to just hang out and get to know your teammates was lost for them and this is a tight Buffalo Bills football team. Hopefully this season will be easier for rookies to form chemistry with teammates because it’s invaluable for fostering a strong emotional bond among players.
But I’ll get to that particular ‘wyobabble’ on another post. Suffice it to note that OTAs can be individualized for players depending on their age and medical history. This team knows the mission.
Go out and win a dang NFL Championship for BillsMafia, once and for all.
This year.
Let’s go.
~The Caboose~
Find me on Twitter @RobynMundyWYO