NFL players have roughly six weeks to rest and prepare for training camp, now that OTAs and minicamps have wrapped up.
But when Washington returns to training camp, coach Jay Gruden will still be emphasizing their rest.
Via Matthew Paras of the Washington Times, Gruden has adjusted his camp schedule to put his more rigorous practice in the morning, and the lighter walk-through in the afternoon.
“I want to give them a full day to recover,” Gruden said. “I kind of have been doing a little research here and I think we practice in the morning, we are off the field around noon and they get a nice lunch. . . . So, I think to give that full time for recovery, so they can drink a lot of fluids and take care of their bodies is important.”
Most of their practices (9 of 15) will happen at 9:45 a.m. (which also helps keep them out of the heat and humidity), and those practices started at 3 p.m. last season.
Of course, there’s more than heat on Gruden’s mind. His team lost 309 player-games to injury, the sixth-highest total in the league. So anything he can do to reverse last year’s bad luck in the area, he’ll try.