Teams are beginning to head back to training camp this week.
But for more and more of them, that doesn’t include going anywhere at all.
Only 12 teams are actually leaving their own facilities for camp this year, as the league continues whatever the opposite of an exodus is.
In 2000, only five teams didn’t travel for training camp, but now the ones who leave their own facilities are the anomalies.
The Packers have been doing it forever, heading to St. Norbert College in De Pere, Wisconsin for the last 58 years. The Vikings (Mankato State) and Steelers (Saint Vincent College) are in their 50th years at their camp sites.
The other nine teams to go away for the month are the Bills, Colts, Chiefs, Raiders, Panthers, Bears, Cowboys, Saints and Washington.
There are always going to be some owners who view camp as branding opportunities, and coaches who value the time away so their players can concentrate exclusively on football for a few weeks.
But with every passing year, their numbers are dwindling.