There will be collisions and the clashing of shoulder pads and a physicality which wasn’t allowed during their first three days of training camp before taking Saturday off to rest and recover.
“My biggest thing is guys just not being too eager because everyone’s so gung-ho and you don’t have the pads on yet,” Shanahan said. “So just trying our tails off to keep everyone off the ground and I think we did pretty good for the most part.” Thinking back on it, veteran offensive run-game coordinator Chris Foerster conceded it wasn’t the smartest way to operate.
“The league has changed since I’ve been here, but I think it’s changed for the better,” Armstead said. “Definitely used to be a little rougher. I think it’s better for the players and the longevity of our season. We don’t need to win a game today. We need to win games when the season starts.” “You hear a difference. Feel a difference? Obviously, there’s a little bit of a difference in terms of throwing, you have to get used to throwing with pads on a little bit,” Darnold said. “You’re not really getting touched at practice as a quarterback or hopefully you’re not getting touched as a quarterback during practice.”