Jets rookie orientation is getting started

The Jets are not having their typical rookie minicamp this year. Instead of on field drills, the team has put together an orientation program for rookies.

NJ Advance Media

“Most of these guys haven’t played since December, maybe November,” Gase said. “To drag them out there, run them around – I guess I’ve seen too many times where you lose a first-round draft pick to injury. You want to get them caught up as fast as possible and when you go install, practice, correct, another install – by the time you get done with the weekend, they have no clue what happened.”

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“We do all the things you want to do with rookies to kind of get them going in a real-life setting,” Gase said. “A lot of these guys, they went from high school – they were home – to college – where everybody does everything for them. Now they’re on their own. So you have to educate them about, ‘This is how it’s going to be and you’re on your own and you’re going to have to pay bills and you’re going to have to get your own food.’ There’s a lot of things that guys don’t know about.”

While the injury risk is not that high, the traditional rookie minicamp always struck me as a waste of time. I never saw the practical benefit in putting guys on the field before they had a real chance to study the system. And the bulk of players at these minicamps were tryout players. One weekend seemed insufficient to evaluate all of these players.

So good for you, Adam Gase, in ending one of the traditional wastes of time on the NFL calendar and substituting something with substance.