Expecting any rookie in the NFL to come into the league after being drafted and immediately make an impact is a big ask. However, the crop of rookies in 2020 may be at more of a disadvantage than any other draft class in recent memory due to the coronavirus pandemic that has halted training camps and canceled in-person meetings for the better part of three months now.
For players like Antonio Gandy-Golden, a wide receiver who was drafted by the Washington Redskins out of Liberty — a small school — that transition into the big leagues might be tough to navigate. Though AGG tore it up in college, making the leap from the Atlantic Sun Conference to the NFL is going to be a massive gap in talent.
“I cannot imagine what the transition is going to be, Liberty to the NFL without a true offseason program without rookie minicamp,” said NBC Sports Josh Norris. “I don’t know how much you can ask that type of player in his rookie season.”
The NFL will still expectedly hold training camp, of course, before the season starts, but for rookies, the lack of minicamps and OTA’s will be tough to overcome, and it will but a heightened weight on the preseason games. For a player like LT Saahdiq Charles, who the Redskins drafted in the fourth round, he will have to rely on just the training camp and preseason games to get an understanding of the Washington offense, where he will work to vie for the starting spot. In years past, he would have been able to get an initial grip on the scheme early this summer.
It’s tough to know how things will play out exactly going forward, but we know that NFL teams across the nation are going to have to ask more from their rookies, and hope that they can hit the ground running once they get the chance.
