Kyle Shanahan was rightfully annoyed how fans overreact to NFL practices

USA Today

a day ago

Kyle Shanahan was rightfully annoyed how fans overreact to NFL practices
Dearest readers, I need you to sit down, because I think I'm about to blow some of your minds.
The entire point of NFL practices, especially in this delicate time of year during minicamps and organized team activities (where no one is wearing full pads, mind you), is not peak performance at the highest level. It's to allow NFL players to digest their playbooks, try new things out if they must, and above all, make mistakes so they can learn from them in the future. Every other possible practice goal is ancillary. Every single one.
So, the moment you start overanalyzing how good, say, a quarterback was during his practice by doing something absurd like counting their completion percentage and touchdowns, you've already lost the plot. You're overreacting to something that NFL coaches don't even care about themselves.
You can count San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan, who has been to three separate Super Bowls as a coach, in that camp.
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On Wednesday, while discussing what he wants to see from his 49ers quarterbacks like Brock Purdy, Shanahan went on a diatribe about how we overreact to NFL practices. He noted that the gathered reporters' presence has changed how we view players still trying to grow, because there can be a tendency to overanalyze and, really, over-report what happens on any given day. This dynamic, to Shanahan, is harmful for players who see people reacting to their every step in practice and respond by hedging toward playing for practice instead of practicing to play.
That is a very key distinction for all athletes, not just NFL players. Are you trying to get better for possible situations you might see from an offense or defense when someone's keeping score? Or are you trying to look better in practice, and then you're inherently less prepared for meaningful games?
The former is how one becomes a better professional football player. By learning what works and what doesn't. The latter is a one-way ticket out of the league.
Honestly, I've gotta hand it to Shanahan. This is a salient point that I think isn't discussed enough about the NFL:
None of this is to say that you shouldn't care about how players on your favorite team perform in spring and summer practices. I'm not trying to yuck anyone's yum about seeing a hotshot rookie or young talent get back to the grind. That part is fun. It's what helps keep the sports calendar rolling along. This also isn't to say that how a player practices doesn't matter, because it does. You're just likely never going to hear a coach's honest thoughts about someone on their roster based on what they do in only a helmet and shoulder pads.
The only way we can make definitive judgments about NFL players is by seeing what happens between the lines from September through February. Nothing else. That's the truth.
So, please, for everyone's sake: don't take what you see in NFL practices over the next weeks and months too seriously. Don't get too high or too low. It doesn't serve players well. And it definitely doesn't serve your own mental health well.
The time to get excited or pull all your hair out about a player is around the corner. I promise.