National Football League

Jeff Fisher won't change his stance on mandatory minicamps

Published Jun. 8, 2015 7:20 p.m. ET

foxsports

The St. Louis Rams are the only team in the NFL without mandatory minicamps and Jeff Fisher prefers it that way.

The Rams were the only team in the league to not hold a rookie minicamp, instead they hold a 'rookie orientation' to get the rookies up to speed. The Rams don't want to risk any injuries that may be caused by players not being in good enough shape to go through the conditioning of an NFL practice.

"Our philosophy since the rookie orientation is to assess the rookies while the vets are conditioning and then get the rookies back into a position and get them caught up with the veteran group so that they (can) compete," Fisher said, via ESPN.com. "So we did that. We had a couple really good weeks."

The Rams will wrap up their final OTAs June 18 and will not hold any mandatory minicamp before training camp starts at the end of July. Even with a new quarterback and new offensive coordinator, Fisher prefers the offseason program he has in place.

“No, I didn’t think it was necessary," Fisher said. "I think when you look actually at the veteran minicamp, it’s really no different than an OTA. You’re allowed to go on the field once. You get to have a walkthrough. You get to keep them in the building for 12 hours rather than six. I personally think that’s too much and too long during the offseason. ...I’ve just always been one of those that has been opposed to the mandatory minicamp, especially back in the days when you’ve got to go on the field twice a day. It just made no sense to me that you’re taking professional athletes and making them practice twice a day in the middle of the offseason. It didn’t make sense, probably because I hated it.”

(h/t ESPN)