Texans trying a new approach during offseason

"You are going to have more friends than you ever had before. More people are going to want to hang out with you and buy you drinks. More girls are going to think you are good-looking. Be smart and keep it all in perspective."

I was just a happy-to-be-there rookie when veteran lineman Cory Raymer offered that advice before we left the Redskins offseason program for several weeks in 2001. Though I wasn't exactly sure what he meant at the time, I realized soon thereafter he was spot on in his prediction.

It quickly became evident that certain things change once you are on an NFL roster and have that team's brand attached to your name. All of a sudden more people want to spend time with you, and the attention can become a double-edged sword. Additionally, you can become a target of those looking to either associate themselves with you or take advantage of you in some way.

Never is that more likely than in this relatively dead time on the NFL calendar. Most teams have given their players upwards of six weeks off before they must report to training camp in late July. And no matter how much coaches and teammates emphasize the dangers, there are players who will find themselves in compromising situations.

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There is clearly no way to completely eliminate these incidents from happening. But would it help if teams started and finished their offseason programs later? Instead of beginning in mid- to late-March and finishing in mid- to late-June, teams could easily push those dates back in an effort to close the gap of time before training camp. Teams could potentially shift the beginning of their allotted offseason time to the second week of April and finish it sometime in early July and still give the players a couple of weeks off to mentally re-charge before the rigors of training camp begins.

One team subscribing to this theory is Houston. The Texans started their offseason program March 31 and won't conclude until the week after July 4th, leaving less than two weeks between the end of the program and the start of training camp on July 25. It's clear Texans GM Rick Smith and coach Gary Kubiak are hoping this wrinkle will pay dividends on the field. In a copycat league, many teams will be looking at the Texans to see how this plays out.

According to two league sources who preferred to speak on the condition of anonymity, the major factors precluding teams from altering the offseason program schedule include the fact this stretch is traditionally the only real down time for overworked NFL coaches. There's also the fear that all NFL personnel people have of making a big change in the status quo.

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barrett said:

doesn't us finishing our minicamps early mean more down time not less? also, alot of teams had mini camp schedules similar to ours. furthermore, that article said we continued until july 4th. what? what activity is taking place right now? nothing other than working on contracts as far as i know. what the hell is this guy talking about?

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Insideop said:

This is what I was wondering too. Our OTA's were finished a week or two ago. Unless they are talking about conditioning programs, I'm not sure what activity they are referring to.

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Insideop said:

This is what I was wondering too. Our OTA's were finished a week or two ago. Unless they are talking about conditioning programs, I'm not sure what activity they are referring to.

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ObsiWan said:

you know, I wondered why just about everyone else was having their minicamps and whatnot now while ours are pretty much all done.

It'll be interesting to see if any other team changes things up next year.

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Malloy said:

Troubled players should be forced to watch The Waterboy five times a day until they get their act together

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We did begin offseason workouts on March 31; that is correct. However, our pre-training camp offseason program ended with the last day of OTAs on June 9 (you’ll have to check on that date, just going off the top of my head).

A lot of players are still around working out, running, etc., but it’s all voluntary at this point until July 25. Smith and Kubiak aren’t around, nor are any of the other coaches. In fact, the entire office will be on vacation starting this Saturday for the entire Fourth of July week.

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