Herm Edwards knows all about the "Hard Knocks" life.
The ESPN analyst was head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs when HBO's all-access training camp series featured them in 2007.
Edwards has some advice for the New York Jets, who are expected to formally announce Thursday they have been selected for the 2010 edition of "Hard Knocks." Jets players and reporters have been tweeting about it since Wednesday afternoon.
That's when Edwards was a guest on "The Michael Kay Show" on 1050 ESPN Radio in New York.
"The tough thing is for the young guys because of the fact they're going to pick out two or three guys and follow them through the whole show," said Edwards, who coached the Jets from 2000 through 2005. "That's going to be the crux of the story. I think NFL Films, they do a great job of bringing most of it up to par with what's really going on.
"For coaches, it's tough in a sense that the microphone's always on. You have to be careful what comes out of your mouth. You're in meetings and talking about players. You hate for them to turn the television on."
A significant part of Jets coach Rex Ryan's public aura is his joviality in front of a camera. But Edwards said his process, which lasted through final cuts and into the first regular-season game, became a grind.
"It's six weeks of under that microscope," Edwards said. "A lot of guys like a lot of air time. So they do a lot of things maybe they wouldn't have done. This becomes a little bit of a reality show for some guys, their private reality show. That's what you deal with, but I think Rex will handle it fine."
Edwards didn't view his "Hard Knocks" experience negatively, although the Chiefs did go 4-12 that season.
"I don't know if it helps you," Edwards said, "but I don't know if it hurts you either.
"If you don't handle it right as an organization, especially a head coach and assistant coaches, it could be a distraction because they're trying to create a reality show to show the fans exactly what goes on with the inner workings of an organization. They're there to tell a story. But you're trying to coach your players and focus on the job at hand, which is to get them ready for the upcoming season."