Hoke Says Young Defensive Players Develop Slower Due To Practice Rules

[stillers4me]

Prior to the new CBA of 2011, NFL teams used to be allowed to have grueling two-a-day practices during training camp, but now they are limited to having one full-contact padded practice per day accompanied by a walkthrough period. On the latest episode of the Craig Wolfley Podcast, this topic was discussed as it relates to undrafted players and younger players on the offseason roster not getting the necessary work in training camp.

Former Steelers nose tackle Chris Hoke, who made the Steelers team as an undrafted free agent in 2001, was asked particularly to give his thoughts on the subject, being as he isn't too far removed from the game.

"They don't have the opportunities," said Hoke. "Let me tell you why. Because you have less practices. You have less practice snaps. So you have to let the veterans take more snaps in practice, because your trying to get them ready for the regular season.

"Usually, when you have two double days, you have double days back to back to back, you can kind of let these veterans rest a little bit and let these young rookies and free agent guys step in there - which happened to me - step in and get some snaps. Now, with the limited snaps, you got to get your veterans ready to play and their taking those snaps, that in the past, the young guys would take." ..........

Read more @ http://www.steelersdepot.com/2013/05...ractice-rules/

[Steeldude]

NPL National Pansy League

Football is dead!

[steelreserve]

... and this should come as a surprise to no one.

[Count Steeler]

DeMaurice Smith should be fired immediately. If Goodell doesn't look out for the good of the game, he should.

And where is the uproar over what has become a salary cap freeze? He just proves over and over that he is not qualified to run the NFLPA.

[zulater]

Hoke is right. The game is going to suffer from this new CBA, and we've only seen the tip of the ice berg. Who's going to be surprised if the NFL looks like the arena league outdoors in ten years?

[NCSteeler]

Veteran players asked for this. Now they got it. They could of had a simple fix by regulating veteran reps in practice and allowing rookies and 2nd year players as much practice as before. Blind leading the blind

[TomlinSteelTribe]

Veteran players asked for this. Now they got it. They could of had a simple fix by regulating veteran reps in practice and allowing rookies and 2nd year players as much practice as before. Blind leading the blind

Yep. Exactly.

[HollywoodSteel]

Veteran players asked for this. Now they got it. They could of had a simple fix by regulating veteran reps in practice and allowing rookies and 2nd year players as much practice as before. Blind leading the blind

Yes, what you're saying makes total sense from a fan perspective and a common sense perspective. Bet from a veteran player perspective I can see why they don't want the young guys getting any more snaps. The less prepared and developed the young guys are, the more valuable the old guys are.

[Mojouw]

I really think that each time the CBA comes up, it simply exposes how poor of a job the NFLPA did explaining the specifics of the CBA and its long-term implications to its membership. Also, I suspect that a fairly high number of players in the NFL simply voted for the CBA because they were led to believe that there would be more money in their pockets and less padded practices. Understanding or even caring about anything beyond that didn't happen. I wish I could find it now, but there have been numerous quotes from veteran players over the last couple of seasons that they had no idea the powers Goodell was being granted.

Almost as funny as when guys get pumped about a $40 million dollar contract or whatever with only 5 of that guaranteed. Great job. You signed a one year deal and a hefty commission for your agent.

Look at the relative lack of high dollar contracts this free agency period -- who do you think "won" the last CBA now? That is the real reason that De Smith should be fired. He didn't really get his members much at the negotiating table and he did a crappy job of making sure his membership even understood what they are voting on.

Don't know why I started ranting on this...but I am too lazy and stubborn to delete it now.

[fansince'76]

I really think that each time the CBA comes up, it simply exposes how poor of a job the NFLPA did explaining the specifics of the CBA and its long-term implications to its membership. Also, I suspect that a fairly high number of players in the NFL simply voted for the CBA because they were led to believe that there would be more money in their pockets and less padded practices. Understanding or even caring about anything beyond that didn't happen. I wish I could find it now, but there have been numerous quotes from veteran players over the last couple of seasons that they had no idea the powers Goodell was being granted.

Almost as funny as when guys get pumped about a $40 million dollar contract or whatever with only 5 of that guaranteed. Great job. You signed a one year deal and a hefty commission for your agent.

Look at the relative lack of high dollar contracts this free agency period -- who do you think "won" the last CBA now? That is the real reason that De Smith should be fired. He didn't really get his members much at the negotiating table and he did a crappy job of making sure his membership even understood what they are voting on.

Don't know why I started ranting on this...but I am too lazy and stubborn to delete it now.

Couldn't agree more. And I'd like to add once again that the Steelers are the ONLY contingent of players that voted against it and were widely ridiculed as being "ignorant" for doing so at the time.

So, who's "ignorant" now?

[NCSteeler]

Yes, what you're saying makes total sense from a fan perspective and a common sense perspective. Bet from a veteran player perspective I can see why they don't want the young guys getting any more snaps. The less prepared and developed the young guys are, the more valuable the old guys are.

I hadn't thought of that angle but it makes perfect sense. BUT what the veterans are learning is that the rookie wage scale doesn't mean more money to "ALL" veterans, it really means that for average players, the rookie is much cheaper. have we ever seen an offseason where so many FAs had to beg for work.