HENDERSONVILLE, Tenn. -- When Dejan Kovacevic asked me to be a part of DK Pittsburgh Sports a few months ago, while I was still playing for the Steelers, I honestly thought it was one of those empty proposals that people tend to give out to continue to carry a conversation.
So, when I logged onto my Twitter a couple weeks ago and got a direct message from Dejan, I left him on 'Read' for a couple days before I decided to reply back.
Why?
Getting into the sports media world can be tricky for a former player. You have to deal with the current issues along with the issues that could peel back some layers in the past.
In DK’s proposal to me, he stated I could give you guys my perspective on how I see things, and that there’d be no parameters on what topic I could write about. Well, I don’t know if he knows this, but this could be a rollercoaster ride for him and this site. Because I’m hoping to give you guys a look into the perspective of a Pittsburgh athlete through words, so that we all can enjoy the game, the mindset and show how similar we all really are.
With that out of the way, I turn my attention to the 2020 NFL offseason.
I decided to retire before the start of the league year. During that time of celebration for me and my loved ones, things were starting to ramp up with the coronavirus pandemic. We’ve seen a global shutdown, but we’ve also seen kids live out their draft dreams virtually, just as we’ve seen how lavishly some coaches live in their draft rooms.
I think we all could agree that Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury had the ultimate setup:
[caption id="attachment_986546" align="aligncenter" width="640"]
TWITTER[/caption]
We’ve also seen the emergence of the online meetings and home schooling, which is how this summer might be conducted across the NFL. And I worry about that.
Although this is a different offseason for the league, a shutdown isn’t new historically. There are currently six players on the Steelers’ roster who have endured an offseason similar to this one, back in 2011: Ben Roethlisberger, Maurkice Pouncey, Cam Heyward, Tyson Alualu, Joe Haden and newcomer Stefen Wisniewski. The reason back then was a lockout over the renewal of the Collective Bargaining Agreement. For me, being honest, it was good to have more free time. I was a young guy, and we were coming off the Super Bowl loss to the Packers at the newly built Jerry’s World stadium. Everything felt huge. My biggest challenge was wondering where I was going to train and, without the supervision of the Steelers' strength and conditioning staff, was I doing enough?
That question was part of the reason I tweeted this offseason to urge older vets to reach out to young guys to show them how to be pros, how to understand the training for an NFL season. (Because there is a difference!) The development of the young guys can make or break a team, and those guys have to be prepared for their teams. But being underprepared can also end their careers.
On the other side, having too much time for the veterans can be a curse. The injuries sustained during the preseason and regular season in 2011 were eye-opening. Injuries are a major part of any sport, of course, but witnessing all the big-name vets going down that year made me ask: Did having no Phase 1, no OTAs, no minicamp make for that big of a disadvantage?
I asked Heyward for this piece about his experience with the 2011 offseason, and his response was: “We were forced to work out on our own and find the means to stay sharp and ready. With those physical reps being taken now as they were then, I was scrambling trying to pick up the playbook as soon as NFL came to an agreement.”
The one injury type that scared the hell out of me was the Lisfranc foot injury. It was happening to a lot of guys in the league. Not a contact injury or traumatic hit, it was simply a sprain of the midfoot that could derail a player’s season or, depending on where they are in a career, end it. That was the trending ailment that fall. And I vividly remember wondering if that was a result to not having a full offseason.
There were so many camp injuries. Big names everywhere:
I remember the Chiefs were especially snakebitten, which directly led to Todd Haley coming our way the next year as our offensive coordinator, which led to us having a record-breaking offense for the next few years.
Another group that's hurt by this are the ones who end up being the core of your special teams, your backup developmental guys, your hidden gems: Undrafted free agents. (Like I was.)
My brother-in-law, Joshua Bey, who was a linebacker at the University of Tennessee-Martin, used to tell me, time and again, about being a casualty of no offseason during the 2011 lockout. There was really no time for NFL teams to fully evaluate undrafted free agents, as if the process was sight unseen. And when you go to smaller schools like a UT-Martin, your chance is cut tremendously. I hope for the sake of those guys chasing their dream that they have that opportunity to crack open the door somehow.
As a guy who’s sensitive to what professionals go through to get ready for the game or the entire season, I truly hope things can get back to normal as soon as possible … SAFELY.
I speak for not only the guys in the NFL but also the Major League Baseball pitchers who have to be ready very soon to throw over 100 mph. I’m sympathetic to the kids in high school and college who didn’t get to compete for a state championship or national championship.
Once things begin to get back to normal or we create a new norm, I hope we all get to enjoy the game as we remember it. We’ve gone through similar situations and we will always push through hard times and create new paths.
To continue reading, log into your account:
