One of the recent labor-based reports from ESPN senior NFL analyst Chris Mortensen touched on the elimination of two-a-day practices in a new collective bargaining agreement.
"One key concession made by the owners will effectively eliminate two-a-day practices during training camp as a health and safety issue that players termed critical to an agreement, the sources said. Teams will be allowed to have some helmetless and padless non-contact walk-through practices in lieu of a second training camp practice on the same day," Mortensen writes.
While the 2011 training camp schedule figured to be altered by the lockout, one would still think this is news Bill Belichick -- who has often talked about the importance of player safety -- won't be pleased to hear.
Consider this comment from Belichick in the early days of last year's training camp, "A big part of camp [is] going through it day by day and putting your team under stress and seeing how they react to those situations – judge their conditioning and staying power, mental and physical toughness, and durability. I think that’s an important part of getting your team ready for the 16-game regular-season schedule that we have to face."
Here are some quick-hits on how Belichick approached training camp in 2010:
1. Four of the first five days of camp featured two-a-day practices, all in full pads.
2. Joint practices with the Saints were held with one two-a-day session. Both practices were in full pads.
3. Belichick put the team through 17 straight practices (12 full pads*, 3 walkthroughs, 2 in shorts/light shoulder pads) before giving players a day off.
* one full-pads practice was held at a slower pace