The first week of joint practices at NFL training camps included one player getting carted off the field and two teams getting fined $200,000 each for excessive fighting.
Those events have lent credence to the notion that joint practice sessions don’t need to last longer than one day, an idea growing in popularity. After nearly 80% of the 2023 joint practices lasted two days, over two-thirds of the sessions this year are one-day affairs.
“One, to me, is plenty,” New York Jets coach Robert Saleh said.
The argument against two-day joint practices is that the second day often is chippier and increases the possibility of injuries.
Atlanta wide receiver Rondale Moore was carted off the field with a leg injury Wednesday as the Falcons practiced against the Miami Dolphins for a second straight day. Also Wednesday, the NFL fined the New York Giants and Detroit Lions $200,000 each for multiple fights that stretched across their two days of practicing against each other.
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The NFL sent out a memo last month stating fights and unprofessional conduct at joint practices wouldn’t be tolerated. Packers coach Matt LaFleur noted earlier in this offseason that “sometimes it becomes a wrestling match out there or an MMA fight” when joint practices extend to a second day.
“Every time I’ve ever had a joint practice, the first day will be a little rough and then the second one ends in a fight,” Packers running back Josh Jacobs said.
The problems with this week’s Falcons-Dolphins and Giants-Lions joint practices didn’t necessarily result from both lasting two days.
Moore suffered an apparent non-contact injury, so it just as easily could have happened if the Falcons had been practicing on their own. Much of the fighting between the Giants and Lions, including one brawl that injured Detroit cornerback Emmanuel Moseley, happened on their first practice day rather than their second.
NFL teams are permitted to hold joint practices for as many as four days during training camp, and those can be divided in any way possible. For instance, the Los Angeles Rams are holding four separate one-day sessions against three different teams.
The Rams held their first joint workout with the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday, and they’ll meet again on Aug. 14. The Rams practiced with the Dallas Cowboys on Thursday and have a session with the Houston Texans on Aug. 22.
Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford said after Sunday’s workout that he likes limiting joint practices to one day.
“I think there’s probably less fights, which is good,” Stafford said. “You know, the second day is when everybody kind of gets a little charged up and gets going.”
It also has been when some notable injuries have occurred.
Saleh’s Jets were in a second day of joint workouts with the Packers three years ago when defensive end Carl Lawson ruptured his Achilles tendon and safety Zane Lewis hurt his knee, knocking both players out for the entire season.
Saleh shortened the Jets’ two scheduled two-day joint practices last year to a single day each. The Jets practiced against the Washington Commanders on Thursday and have one-day sessions with the Carolina Panthers on Aug. 15 and the Giants on Aug. 21.
“Very rarely do you ever have a football player go through that much volume and intensity in back-to-back days,” Saleh said. “So you’re not only subjecting our guys to the injury on Day 2, but also it’s just very little production because they’re just seeing red and they’re fighting and they’re avoiding their techniques.”
That much was apparent during the Packers’ joint practices with the New England Patriots last year. After the first day went by without any major incidents, three fights broke out about five minutes into their second joint workout.
New Orleans Saints coach Dennis Allen explained why fights are more likely on the second day.
“You have the first day’s practice,” Allen said. “One team or the other is going to feel like they got the better of the other team. Those coaches are going to go yell at their players. Their players are going to pissed off, and then that’s how that stuff happens, right?”
Some don’t see the need to have joint practices at all.
The reigning Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs and Las Vegas Raiders are the only teams not having any joint practices this year.
“I think the way we go about it — I think we go fast, we practice hard, we do those things amongst ourselves, and the guys challenge each other,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said. “And I don’t think there’s a better way to do it, if your guys are willing to do that.”
Packers safety Xavier McKinney said he doesn’t like joint practices because there’s too much fighting and the action on the field is “all vanilla stuff” since neither team wants to reveal its entire playbook. McKinney said any joint practices that happen shouldn’t last longer than a single day.
“Once you see the first practice, you’re like, ‘OK, you’ve seen me. I’ve seen you. We don’t need to keep doing this,'” McKinney said.
But others consider joint practices a valuable method of preseason preparation.
“I thought the two days were effective,” Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins said Wednesday. “It’s really important to see different looks, just seeing different nickel pressures, corner pressures, coverage structures, fronts. It creates a lot of good conversations. The meeting time after these practices is very productive, to talk through it all.”
AP Pro Football Writers Dave Campbell, Dennis Waszak and John Wawrow, AP Sports Writers Mark Anderson, Dan Gelston, Brett Martel and Dave Skretta and AP freelance writer Dan Greenspan contributed to this report.
