Like milk, minicamps are good for every body.  None more so than for rookies and the camps with rookies-only are incredibly important for these new, young quarterbacks infiltrating the league right now.  These new QB’s are getting a chance to learn and make mistakes, lots of mistakes, rookie mistakes, without the veterans that they are going to be asked to lead in a very short time.

I don’t think it is fair to ask any QB, no matter how good, to come in and start the first game of his rookie year, but the game has changed and one of those is the shortened time frame to be evaluated before being thrown into the fire.  Gone are the days of Aaron Rogers getting a quality education and preparation before facing the elite defenders of the NFL.  Johnny Manziel and E.J. Manuel haven’t been kicked off their teams, but both teams have already pulled the initial plug on their former first round draft picks; Manuel now fighting Matt Cassel for playing time after stepping aside last year for journeyman Kyle Orton, who fared much better than Manuel.  Manziel had the rug pulled out on his starting opportunity after a game and a half and spent most of this off-season in rehab.  There couldn’t be a much bigger insult to Manziel than to hear that former Bucs QB Josh McCown is now the Browns’ starter, but I don’t think there has ever been a first round quarterback at greater risk of losing his career faster than he currently is.

The two QB’s that were the part of every draft story run-up and will be asked to take the first snap of the season both need and will benefit from these first minicamps more than any other players.  The camps will also give their respective coaches a chance to slow things down and teach them without slowing things down for all the veterans in subsequent OTA’s (organized team activities).  And for Mariota in particular, who hasn’t huddled up as a group and called plays in the huddle, it will give him a chance to articulate the Titans’ plays as the newbie that he is and a little less pressure than when his tenured teammates are waiting for him to spit out a lengthy play call.

Veterans need minicamps less, but can benefit significantly nonetheless.  The off-season has shortened over the years, so there are less workouts and throwing sessions as a group, so getting together for OTA’s have more pressure for coaches and players than they used to and the younger the team, the more imperative the time.

The players’ off-season is for rest and recovery first, then for getting bigger, faster, stronger and smarter.  Besides all of the college evaluations for the combine and draft, as well as pro eval’s for free agency, coaches spend their time trying to figure out the latest rage, whether it be the Bears’ 46 Defense of yesteryear, the Dolphins recent “Wildcat” or today’s  up-tempo offense of Chip Kelly.  Minicamps or OTA’s have always been incredibly important for inserting the team’s offensive and defensive packages and even a little bit of experimentation with new wrinkles that the coaches worked on to be better next year than last.  So, like I said at the outset, minicamps are good for every body.  They are the least publicized of anything the NFL does, but one of the most important.