NFL Training Camp seems to be the same every year. Despite this, it breaks the several month football hiatus, and gives fans something to be excited about. It can be hard to keep track of all of the training camp reports coming in, so I’ve rounded up all of the highlights from this week.
Fights
There are fights in training camps every year. A locker room full of seventy-five massive egos always leads to fights once the trash talking starts to flow. This week has seen joint practices around the league, so players finally get to shove someone in a different uniform.
This was a pretty standard fight, but someone tossed a helmet, and a referee caught it so non-chalantly. Maybe the highlight of training camp so far. The Ravens and Commanders also cleared the sidelines when punches were thrown between two players.
The Cowboys also got into an intersquad scuffle. This one looked like a boring football fight until footage came of Micah Parsons repeatedly punching the Cowboys’ starting offensive tackle.
Why doesn’t one guy just punch someone in the stomach. Punching a football mask looks stupid, and is stupid. If you want to hurt a guy pull his helmet off his head and hit him with it.
Injuries
Joe Burrow is still out. Since the mood of Cincinnati depends on his health this season, they are babying him throughout camp. By all accounts, he will be good, but they are going to everything short of wrapping him in bubble wrap in caution.
Eagles’ star pass Haason Reddick hurt his thumb and needed surgery on the injury. He will likely be good to go week one. This scared the hell out of me today. The safety of his long term health allowed all Eagles’ fans to have a sigh of relief this morning.
Micah Parsons and Myles Garrett both had to leave practice to deal with minor leg injuries of their own, but both said they will be fine to return to action. Two classic attention seekers.
Davante Adams just returned to the practice field after suffering an apparent leg injury. He is supposedly back to 100 percent health, but Josh McDaniels was vague about it a few weeks ago. Send those headlines to your friends and steal Adams in the second round of your fantasy draft.
Jameson Williams is set to miss the rest of training camp after suffering a hamstring injury. His week one status won’t be affected by this, due to a suspension he received for gambling.
George Pickens
If the only access you had to NFL content was Twitter, you’d think George Pickens was the next Jerry Rice. There have been way too many highlights of him exposing future free agents in practice. The reaction to these clips online are indicative of training camp overreactions on a large scale. Some people think Pickens is going to become the next best wide receiver in the league. Some think he can’t run a route much better than most accountants. There is merit to both arguments. The guy has hands like glue, but is smothered by a corner in most clips. He’s likely much worse, and better than Twitter would lead you to believe. Look at the safety in this clip and see how much better a guy can look against scrubs.
QB Battles
There appears to be a youth movement going on with NFL signal callers. While Bryce Young came into training camp with a starting spot all but locked up, some other rookies had to earn their starting jobs. Anthony Richardson has already been named the Colts’ week one starter, and CJ Stroud doesn’t look to be too far behind him. Gardner Minshew and Davis Mills are likely punching air watching these guys come into the league with new arm angles and steal their jobs. Also in San Francisco, it has become abundantly clear that the quarterback job is Brock Purdy’s to lose. There aren’t many classic quarterback competitions going on right now, but assume the youngest option will win all of them.
