NFL Done With Two-A-Days?

Football players at all levels have been exposed to two-a-days. Twice-a-day practices are a staple of the sport that progresses conditioning, learning the playbook, and gelling together as a team. Most players will agree they’re no fun. Just when you think you’re done for the day after a long practice, you must return to the field later in the day to do it again often times when the heat index has risen.

It’s been reported that under the new CBA, the NFL will eliminate two-a-days for player health and safety concerns. This is probably a relief for most players, but Jets linebacker Bart Scott said that two-a-days keep players from going “soft.”

"“I think it’s wimping out; making football more soft,” Scott said. “No reason to try and make camp easy. I get concerned you’re making football players weaker because you don’t push them past that threshold…Two-a-days, it’s what football is all about,” he said. “It’s about endurance, pain, will, putting yourself through something when your body is telling you it doesn’t want to go. Your mind controlling your body. That’s what camp is all about. With one-a-days, guys might not be in as good of shape as they would have been. Camp tears you down, and then a smart coach starts pulling back in enough time that allows players’ bodies to build back up.” – Bart Scott (NFL.com)"

With the elimination of two-a-days, I see practices running longer. When players are tired, they lose focus, and injuries can happen that way too. Either way you look at it, football is a physical sport and injuries are going to occur.

What’s your take on the two-a-day practice system?