The most compelling scene from last season’s Hard Knocks came when former coach Hue Jackson and former offensive coordinator Todd Haley discussed/debated/argue whether veteran players should get days off during training camp.
The exchange was sparked by former running backs coach Freddie Kitchens, the same Freddie Kitchens who is now the head coach. Kitchens explained during the coaches’ meeting the importance of having as many players available for practice as possible.
“I think, for the new coaches here, we’re not taking guys out because they’re special or anything like that,” Jackson replied. “We’re taking them out for preventative measures and normally the team has understood that. . . . Duke [Johnson] has had a history of pulling [muscles] and if we end up losing him or missing him, it doesn’t help us. Guys, this is all for preventative measures.”
Apparently, something sunk in for Kitchens, because he gave receivers Odell Beckham Jr. and Jarvis Landry the day off from mandatory minicamp.
“It is more preventive than anything,” Kitchens told reporters on Thursday. “Everything is OK with them. We do not play any games in the spring. I am not being funny; it goes back to our voluntary issue. Even when they are here and it is mandatory, we are going make sure that we take care of our players until they start counting. That does not mean that they are going to work their ass off when they are here, but we are not going to be stupid. We are going to take care of our guys when they are here.”
So maybe Kitchens and one of his assistants had the same conversation that was had a year ago, and maybe Kitchens dusted off this observation from Jackson: “I used to sit in the same chair you guys sit in and I used to feel the same way. I just wanted to kill them, OK? Until all of a sudden I sat in this chair and then they’re not there, and you don’t get them to practice, and you can’t get them through, and then you don’t have them for three weeks. And I’m not living in my fears, that’s real. And I think we all can appreciate that.”
Kitchens apparently appreciated it, if not at the time at some point since then.
