Washington opens training camp with a new name, a new coach — and for now, no pads

“Our guys have been great about it, and the attendance that we have had on our Zoom meetings has been good, very, very good,” Rivera said in June. “I am very pleased with that. It just feels like our guys are understanding of what it takes.”

But perhaps not even a month ago could Rivera fully grasp how different the start to this season’s training camp will be from all the others. When camp officially begins Tuesday, it will not look anything like those of years past because of the novel coronavirus pandemic and the team’s recent rebranding.

Not even close.

Last week, around the time players and owners signed off on extensive coronavirus-related protocols that will significantly change the look and feel of this year’s training camp, the franchise renamed itself the Washington Football Team. Its training camp will be held in Ashburn instead of Richmond, where it was located the past seven seasons, and its practice facility has been reconfigured for social distancing and coronavirus testing.

The team’s practice regimen has been altered to allow for a slow reintroduction of football — meaning the first time the players practice in pads won’t be for at least another three weeks. And for the first time in 48 years, players’ jerseys and helmets will not feature Washington’s longtime logo.

“The hardest part and the toughest part will be on the players coming back as far as their conditioning and preparation for training camp … more so than the mental aspects of the game,” Rivera said last month. “That is the thing we will be concerned with when they come back. Obviously, when we get back we will do some conditioning just to see where our guys are. From there, we will go with our approach.”

Because there was no offseason workout program or organized team activities to ease players into camp, the early portion of camp this year will serve as a 20-day ramp-up period. After five days of coronavirus testing, there will be two weeks of strength and conditioning, followed by another five days of limited on-field work before true practices can begin.

The earliest Washington can have a padded practice is Aug. 17. Before then, its roster must be trimmed to 80 players, down from the usual offseason limit of 90. There will be no preseason, no fans and no joint training camp practices. After an entirely remote offseason, the challenges for a team with a new staff and new system are greater than ever.

“I’ll say the biggest challenge of this being virtual, you don’t get to be as intimate as you would be if you were in person,” quarterback Dwayne Haskins said in June. “As far as, you know, asking questions or pulling a coach aside to talk for an extra 15 minutes after a meeting, things like that. It’s FaceTime, it’s Zoom, it’s phone calls, things of that nature.”

Washington’s rookies, quarterbacks and injured players reported July 23 for coronavirus testing. Players must test negative three times to first enter the facility. Those who are cleared take their physicals, and those who pass their physicals are allowed to start weight training — while wearing face coverings and contact-tracing wristbands.

From there, players will be tested daily. If after two weeks the rate of positive tests for all team employees is below 5 percent, tests will be conducted every other day. If it’s higher than 5 percent, daily tests will continue.

Washington’s facility underwent an extensive makeover to accommodate the protocols and to continue with a months-long rebranding process. A trailer that was previously used as a media workroom has been converted into a meeting space. Tents set up on a turf field will serve as auxiliary spaces, and the indoor practice bubble, for now, is a team meeting room.

This past month has doubled the work of Washington’s equipment staff, which had spent months sorting, labeling, washing and packing gear for 2020 before the team announced its temporary name.

Washington will retain its signature burgundy and gold, but little else will remain the same — on the field and off.

“Nobody could have planned for this to happen,” second-year wide receiver Terry McLaurin said in June. “ … It’s been different. It’s been an adjustment. But I feel like in the pros you have to be able to prepare for everything. That’s why you’re a pro.”

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Source:WP