Subscribe
Follow Us
New York Jets coach Adam Gase is only in his first season with the team, but he is already making an impact on how the organization does things. While most teams get on the field during rookie minicamp and run routes and try to impress on the field, Gase is doing things a little differently.
Via Matt Stypulkoski of NJ.com, Gase isn't running a traditional rookie minicamp, instead opting for a rookie orientation that focuses on things not just on football but how to adjust to life in the NFL. As Gase points out, these players haven't played competitive football since November or December and the last thing he wants to do is lose a guy to injury.
Article Continues Below
“Most of these guys haven’t played since December, maybe November,” Gase said. “To drag them out there, run them around – I guess I’ve seen too many times where you lose a first-round draft pick to injury. You want to get them caught up as fast as possible and when you go install, practice, correct, another install – by the time you get done with the weekend, they have no clue what happened. . . .”
“We do all the things you want to do with rookies to kind of get them going in a real-life setting. A lot of these guys, they went from high school – they were home – to college – where everybody does everything for them. Now they’re on their own. So you have to educate them about, ‘This is how it’s going to be and you’re on your own and you’re going to have to pay bills and you’re going to have to get your own food.’ There’s a lot of things that guys don’t know about.”'
This is a solid way to do it because too many guys come into the NFL and just blow all their money right away and five years out of the league they are broke. Hopefully, more teams start to install more life outside the NFL learning experiences for the rookies and young guys in the league so they can learn to be a professional.
