Cincinnati Bengals rookies will go a week longer than the veterans, extending the current virtual approach to minicamps into next week.
This comes on the heels of the NFL canceling in-person minicamps and making it clear players won’t be permitted in team facilities in June. Clubs had the option of extending their offseason program for another two weeks or calling it off.
Veteran center Trey Hopkins explained what the all-virtual settings have been like compared to a normal offseason, per Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com:
“You miss the physical reps, but as far as sitting through things, it was pretty efficient. Now we’re an older team. We’re able to nail down more minute things. We’re not just installing new things. We’re looking at why something didn’t work as opposed to last year when we had to go through games and see what to adjust.”
While different than the norm, one of the advantages to the offseason so far is permitting rookies like Joe Burrow to sit back and really soak in the playbook and his responsibilities without having to worry about the physical aspect.
Provided there aren’t further delays, Burrow and the rookie class will get on the actual field soon enough for training camp. For now, veterans are out and rookies have one more week.
