It’s always tough to be a rookie in the NFL, trying to adapt to your life as it changes around you, and working to learn a new system and perform at the best of your abilities while the world around you watches intently, ready to call you out for any minor misstep.
For this new class of rookies, however, the learning curve will be a bit steeper than others, as they are forced to adapt to a changing NFL landscape that has the entire future up in the air, thanks to the coronavirus pandemic. While most rookies are asked to spend hours in the team facility grinding through the playbook and working on their craft, this crop of rookies is asked to do it on their own.
“It’s just different,” Redskins tight end Thaddeus Moss said, via Redskin.com. “It’s just a whole lot different [way of] learning football.”
The weeks after the draft are usually spent meeting fellow teammates and coaching staff for most rookies, getting to take part in rookie minicamp, and eventually OTA’s. This year, however, team facilities have been shut down, and Moss admitted that the first time he got to interact with his teammates was via a video call.
“I’ve had to change just the way I’m learning this playbook. [It’s] just a learning curve, learning how to learn and learning how to study differently going from college to the NFL,” Moss said.
There’s a growing belief that things may be progressing in the league, and facilities may start to open up over the next month or so, allowing teams to get together and learn the new system. Until then, though, Zoom meetings and note-taking will have to do.
