New York Jets head coach Adam Gase details how COVID-19 restrictions impact training camp

Instead of being in pads, the New York Jets and the rest of the NFL are being impacted by COVID-19 restrictions that are limiting contact and spacing.

In a training camp unlike no other that he has ever experienced, New York Jets head coach Adam Gase talked to the excitement he felt on Wednesday in being back on the field. He does, however, admit that the whole set-up is unusual as the NFL looks to safely bring players back to practice in what is now a COVID-19 world.

Speaking on a Wednesday conference call with the media, Gase hailed the walk-thru session of practice that had just been completed. He even liked the heat on the field for conditioning purposes as he team looks to gear-up for training camp and a preseason that won’t include any games.

Looking ahead, Gase said that Friday will be “almost an OTA-kind of practice.”

“Today was a good first step. Our guys really did a good job of focusing on the fundamentals,” Gase said on the call.

“A little bit of the unknown, you are legitimately one-day-at-a-time. When we talk to the players about taking it one-day-at-a-time, that’s the whole building. Things can change very quickly. It takes one person – if you have it right now it can spread so fast. It’s about everybody doing the right thing, day-in, day-out. Making sure we’re being smart about everything we do. Just kind of trying to balance what’s going in with our schedules. Every day is kind of a little bit different for us. 

“It's different for the players who are so used to the regimen of like we do this at this time, this and this at this time. And it continues through training camp like that. But here, right now, it’s almost like there is a little tweak here and there to where you have more time doing walk thrus compared to practice, compared to meetings. There’s a lot of daily change. We have to do everything and leave a little more time, there’s smaller groups. It changes the whole kind of atmosphere.”