Don't count Bart Scott among those NFL players who would be happy to see the end of two-a-day practices during training camp.
The New York Jets linebacker told *The Star Ledger* on Tuesday that scaling back the notoriously grueling practices would make NFL players too soft.
"I think it's wimping out; making football more soft," Scott said. "No reason to try and make camp easy. I get concerned you're making football players weaker because you don't push them past that threshold."
Cromartie wants to be paid
Antonio Cromartie would love to return to the Jets, but the 27-year-old cornerback says he's in no mood to give the team a "hometown discount"
in free agency.
NFL owners reportedly agreed to eliminate twice-a-day sessions during training camp for health and safety reasons as part of the ongoing labor negotiations. Some non-contact walk-through practices, without helmets and pads, would be permitted in place of a second practice.
"You're stealing reps from coaches," Scott said.
"Two-a-days, it's what football is all about," he said. "It's about endurance, pain, will, putting yourself through something when your body is telling you it doesn't want to go. Your mind controlling your body. That's what camp is all about. With one-a-days, guys might not be in as good of shape as they would have been. Camp tears you down, and then a smart coach starts pulling back in enough time that allows players' bodies to build back up."
Scott's teammate, safety Eric Smith, felt differently, calling the elimination of two-a-days "great." But he also was skeptical on if the change would improve player safety.
"Less hitting is always less toll on your body, but I don't know if it would improve player safety or not," Smith said. "A lot of these things are freak accidents that you can't really stop."
