What It’s Really Like Covering NFL Training Camps | Breer's NFL Tour

So I'm now 2 weeks into my training camp trip.

Um, 2 weeks from 2 weeks ago today I landed in Seattle, started that Monday , um, and from there I went Seahawks to Cardinals to 49ers to the 3 teams in LA, the Cowboys and the Rams and the Chargers, then Raiders, then Broncos, then Chiefs, then Texans, then Lions, then Bengals, then Colts, and today will be the 14th stop, which is the Bears.

And uh this is a great time of year because you get to see so many people.

It's also a lot being on the road and there's a lot of planning that needs to take place and so we're gonna take you through kind of what this looks like when I'm a couple of weeks into my trip from Sports Illustrated.

All right.

Yeah, did you play football at Everett?

I did not.

I ran.

OK.

But of course.

I heard the football program isn't quite what it used to be, not at all, but after DiBiao left, the history is ridiculous, yeah.

I mean, They were , when he had, when, when they were rolling, they were unbelievable.

How'd you wind up here ?

Are you just, are you interning for the summer, or I'm here for the whole season?

Oh, you are?

OK, cool.

So are you out of school now?

I, I technically, yes and no.

I finished my first year of grad school, so I'm taking a leave to be here now.

Oh, awesome, and then I plan on going back at some point.

A lot of people, a lot of people coming out for practice.

No.

right.

Do you guys have, are, are they practicing here today or they retired?

This is my 14th camp.

Kind of exhausted, Yeah, yeah, it's, I've been through .

The country yeah.

Every My hands.

called me.

He wants to do, so.

Right.

I started, Yeah, right.

Thanks so much.

I appreciate it.

What's your name?

Uh, one of the most important pieces of my training camp trip is networking and seeing people.

At this point, a lot of it for me is maintaining my relationships.

So what I'll do in every camp stop is have a bunch of meetings, and that's where I'm headed now.

Unfortunately I can't take you guys inside those meetings, but just know that it's a really important piece of what I do and, and why I come out on the road and why I'm in my 14th city.

In 14 days or 4 more to go and then a few more after that.

on my training camp trip.

We have 5 takeaways from Bear's camp where it was stormy and we wound up.

The Oo is part of that um.

They're gonna be counting on for a little while.

Takeaway number 4, if there's a position that's a little better than expected, a little deeper than expected, it will be defensive tackle.

Now, Gervin Gervin Dexter.

So this right here is my camp observations.

Then I got to do, finish my Monday column.

And uh and then I think I got a cowboys column I gotta do too.

So We'll be working for A little while tonight.

I'm trying to make the internet connection work cause we're outside the building now.

And I don't know, So days like today, you know, it's It's it really for me again the biggest thing is just being able to um being able to see people and reconnect with people and like I I I've said to a bunch of the guys like that's sort of what COVID taught me in a weird way was um you know I felt like I was an advantage um because of my connections during COVID um and so I you know I like that year um when nobody could physically be.

Near anybody in the NFL, um, I was able to do my job effectively.

The next year when I went out again on, on this trip.

You know, it just jumped right out at me like the difference that face to face communication makes and like so for me that's the most important piece of this is just seeing the guys and everything else and getting to meet with the coaches and getting to meet with the front office people and you know .

Making new connections, you know, it's, it's like a little bit less of it for me now, but still part of it, um, and then fostering, you know, old connections that.

Um, that, that I've established over the years and being able to manage all of that is really, really important.

All right, so There's a lot of weird stuff that I see and I like one of the things that's cool about this is that like you go to parts of America that you probably wouldn't go otherwise.

And I, like during the World Cup, I remember seeing all these guys that were from different countries and everything else, and they would go and they'd be like, wow, look at this and like you kind of got like an appreciation for America in a certain way that like kind of I think got people.

Back into like, oh yeah, like there is a lot of cool stuff here, and so I get to see some of that cool stuff when I'm on the road, and this right here is a place I've never been before.

And my friend Trenny advised that we go here.

It's evidently a Wisconsin landmark.

The Mars cheese castle.

I'm gonna take a picture of this from my Instagram.

Uh, all right.

How about that?

I don't even know what to think of this.

The thing for me is I'm going in for one day.

And I don't know who's having a good day, who's having a bad day versus like what they've had otherwise in camp.

It's a long road for all these guys to the NFL season and You know, for each of them, like the spring, the summer, it's all a big mosaic, and it's, you know, where does that leave them for week one?

So I don't think it's really fair for me to go in and say like, oh yeah, like this guy did this or this guy did that or this guy looked crappy or this guy looked great, like when, you know, I don't have the full context of what their training camp has been like, what their spring has, what was, was like, and so.

For me, it's like really, that's why it's so important that I'm talking to everybody.

That's the only way to have a fair, like a fair idea of what everybody's doing.

So I'll have those conversations before, during, after practice when I go to these places.

Well, this is sort of it.

Um, not the end of my work day, but the end of my time with all of you guys.

We're going into this hotel.

This is the Aloft in, um, in Green Bay, a Marriott property, of course, and I will be finishing writing in my room and at the bar for dinner.

Um, we'll see you guys tomorrow.