Today's Take 6/14/16 - Cool Of Coach McCarthy To Give Veterans Time Off

As far as surprises go you can't do a whole lot better than giving valued employees a couple unexpected days off.  This week that is exactly what Packers head coach Mike McCarthy has done for some of his more veteran players.  The veteran select group includes Aaron Rodgers and 14 others who, now don't need to return to the facility for a little more than a month.  They will skip out on the rest of minicamp and don't need to be back at Lambeau field until training camp in late July.   Once upon a time this might have been considered unthinkable, once upon a time teams hosted two-a-day practices in full pads months before the season started.  Some might pine for the good ole days, the tough, gritty, play through the pain style of the 70's, 80's, and 90's.  I personally prefer this new age approach.  There is still certainly plenty of pain to play through in the NFL, lets not get that part confused, but by taking better care of the bodies of your best players, your veteran players, you give them a better chance.  In the NFL it's only ever a chance, but a better chance, to play through the season, to play more seasons, and to be more effective when they play. There wasn't a crowd around when coach McCarthy announced the time off, but if there was I would like to think the chant would have been "Go Pack Go."