Long ago, the beginning of football meant a lot of things. Chief amongst them—summer was coming to an end, and fully-padded two-a-days were on the horizon. And for a long time, it didn’t matter if you were a high school player or on an NFL roster, this was how things were done.
Today, things are completely different. Over the last decade or so, more of an emphasis has been placed on player-safety. Fully-padded practices are now less prevalent, and there are specific protocols in place that outline how teams have to ease their way into contact.
So while we may hear stories across the NFL on how a player is looking during the early stages of camp, we really won’t know what is what until the pads come on.