NFL teams are slowly but surely getting more comfortable with the cancellation of minicamp practices, and to Arizona Cardinals legend Adrian Wilson , that's a problem.
"Canceling the last day of Vet mini camp was unheard of back in the early to late 2000's. Ain't no freakin way that happens. Sh-- is crazy!!!!! I hated it even when I was in personnel," he said on X in a series of two posts.
"You letting some guys off the freakin hook who need to perform just to make it to July/August. But hey what the f-- do I know right."
Teams such as the Los Angeles Rams , San Francisco 49ers and Arizona Cardinals have canceled some form of minicamp practices.
As for Cardinals head coach Mike LaFleur, he highlighted three reasons as to why Arizona didn't utilize their final practice period:
"First we came out of this relatively healthy, predominantly healthy, and that's first and foremost. Injuries are going to happen in this game, but when you're not playing with pads, you want to limit that as much as possible," LaFleur said.
"... Second, I like the work that we got in. We got 10 quality days of practice in. When you look at the amount of reps and what these guys are used to, understandably so, because it was the first year in the system, particularly for the offense, these guys got quite a bit more reps in terms of team [activities] compared to what they're used to during this time.
"And then the third part is we start a week earlier. Us and Carolina are obviously the two teams for the Hall of Fame game. So just understanding that we're going to be back a week earlier, and we're going to get an extra block of work. It all kind of took into consideration."
The Cardinals will report to training camp on July 22 with their first of four preseason games coming on Thursday, Aug. 6 - giving Arizona one more than the standard three thanks to their participation in the NFL's Hall of Fame Game.
The name of the game at this point of the year is health, and especially with a long and grueling training camp session looming in July, teams likely don't want to jeopardize the status of their respective rosters.
As for Wilson's vantage point - it's valid. It does feel as if the NFL is slowly trending more towards a cautious approach, which has been evident in recent rule changes and CBA negotiations.
This article was originally published on www.si.com/nfl/cardinals/onsi as Cardinals Legend Adrian Wilson Sounds Off on Growing NFL Minicamp Trend .
