Dominate the Super Bowl

Chapter 187 The frog at the bottom of the well

The offseason training schedule of the thirty-two NFL teams is largely similar, typically organizing both a spring training camp and a summer training camp.

The summer training camp is mandatory for all team members, where the team will train on tactics, conduct actual combat drills, and select the final fifty-three-man roster as well as an additional ten-man practice squad.

On the other hand, the spring training camp is voluntary and focuses on recovery training, physical fitness, and basic skills, with the emphasis on integrating rookies into the team.

This is also known as Rookie Training Camp. First, the team will seize these opportunities to give undrafted rookies a chance to fill the required positions; second, the team will test all rookies and, if they're not suitable, will dismiss them after the spring training camp ends. For those rookies who don't make it to the summer training camp, it's as if they never joined the team.

Despite this, players generally do not miss spring training camp.

Football is a sport that emphasizes team coordination and tactical training; they also need to get acquainted with rookies and players who transferred during the offseason, even if it's just getting adjusted to life together.

Therefore, unless they are plagued by injuries or are actively trying to negotiate contract renewals, transfers, or salary increases—expressing their stance by skipping training—the players generally will attend spring training camp to demonstrate their commitment to the coaching staff.

Moreover, the cutoff date for teams to sign contracts with rookies is just before the start of spring training camp—

During the period from the draft to the spring training camp, rookies need to undergo physical examinations, and their agents also need to discuss contract details with the team.

Rookie contracts are such that the NFL has detailed regulations for contract duration, salary caps, and signing bonus caps, with different figures for each draft spot, all declining at a set ratio; however, the details are subject to discussion between the rookie's agent and the team.

Firstly, not all rookie contracts guarantee the full salary. The higher the draft pick, the more likely it is to be fully guaranteed—but this is not 100% certain; rookies drafted in the second round and later often can't secure a fully guaranteed contract and may have a host of performance clauses.

Secondly, signing bonuses also vary. The League has set firm upper limits for each draft position, but teams may not be willing to pay in full.

In history, it is not common for teams to choose a rookie and then fail to complete the signing before spring training camp, resulting in the rookie missing the camp, or for the team and the rookie to part ways after the camp—but it happens almost every year—

And not just rookies drafted after the second round, even first-round rookies are not exempt.

Because of this, when rookie players arrive at spring training camp, they are often already signed, and they transform from ordinary college students to millionaires and even multimillionaires, so how they use their first pot of gold can often reveal their personalities.

Li Wei?

Not long ago, under the negotiation of Donald Yee, he successfully completed his contract signing with the Kansas City Chiefs, becoming the seventh first-round rookie to sign—

A four-year contract for twenty-seven million four hundred thousand US dollars.

A flashy new car marked the confident start of his spring training camp.

Clearly, as a running back, Hunt didn't see himself as friends with Li Wei; on the contrary, with the spot for the starting running back on the Kansas City Chiefs up for grabs, Hunt was ready to compete.

The moment he arrived, Hunt issued a challenge.

Mahomes nudged Li Wei with his shoulder, "Looks like someone's unhappy about being an afterthought post-draft and needs to make his presence felt."

After the draft, the whole League was questioning the Kansas City Chiefs' puzzling move to pick two running backs, with all the attention focused on Li Wei, making Hunt, who was selected in the third round, completely fade into the background—

Even though he was there, it was as if he was invisible.

However, Li Wei didn't take it to heart, "The world outside is vast. He should go out and see more. There's no need to stay trapped in a well. Quack. Quack."

Mahomes burst into laughter, "Are you insinuating he's a frog in a well? Ha ha, ha ha ha."

It turned out that Li Wei was right—

Joining a team meant being a part of it, and they should set their sights on the entire team, rather than dwelling on trivial rookie matters.

After all, once the season starts and they step onto the field, no one is going to take it easy on them just because they're rookies. With the situation akin to entering the African savannah surrounded by wolves, there's no point in fussing over one's position amongst the rookies.

On the first day of spring training camp, during the first lesson, the rookies felt the full force.

The veterans didn't pay much attention to the newcomers; professional players go through this routine every year with new faces joining and old teammates leaving. If they made a big deal with a welcome ceremony each time, it would be too much trouble, so much so that there wasn't even time for formal greetings.

Quietly, the rookies naturally gravitated together, standing on the outskirts.

Then training class began, without any time for the rookies to introduce themselves.

By the first lesson, Li Wei was questioning life, so exhausted that his brain ceased to function. If it wasn't for the fact that all the players trained together, he would have suspected that the coaches were trying to haze the rookies specifically—

So, if it wasn't targeted specifically at rookies, then it was a wake-up call for all players ending their off-season, ringing the alarm for everyone:

Hey, sleepyheads, the new season has started.