NFL training camps didn’t have terms like “acclimatization period,” “gradual ramp-up period” or “contact integration period” back in 1994 when Mike Zimmer left Washington State to coach nickel backs for Barry Switzer’s Dallas Cowboys.
Those are new-school guidelines that were agreed to by the NFL and its players association heading into a 2020 season that’s trying to bob and weave its way through a worldwide pandemic.
But there will come a day — Monday, to be exact — when old-school Zim will be allowed to put aside social distancing, turn back the clock and order his millennials to practice like it’s the 20th century.