Brady Poppinga: NFL Offseason Schedule Increases Likelihood Of Injuries

The NFL offseason schedule is not kind to rookies.

These promising young players devote the bulk of their time to training for the combine once their final year of college football ends, but this type of conditioning isn’t the same as preparing to do football-specific movements, according to former NFL linebacker Brady Poppinga. In his latest post for Football by Football, Poppinga breaks down how the jam-packed offseason schedule can lead to devastating injuries for rookies.

Jacksonville Jaguars defensive end Dante Fowler Jr. and Denver Broncos tight end Jeff Heuerman both suffered torn ACLs recently, ending their seasons before they began. But Poppinga isn’t all that surprised by the rookies’ injuries.

“Injuries in football are part of the deal and some are unpreventable,” Poppinga writes. “However, by immediately pushing your rookies into mini-camps a week or so after the draft is old NFL thinking that hurts the new NFL assets. Why at this point would teams be willing to adopt a pattern of behavior that increases the risk of injury? You have to teach and give these guys time to prepare their bodies for football.”