2011 offseason: Working out like it's 1971!
 
Back in the day before the NFL decided to make football a year-round sport
with OTAs and minicamps, players worked out on their own to stay in shape.
The offseason truly was the offseason.  Since most players needed jobs in
the offseason to supplement their NFL salaries, they worked out on their
own during odd hours in the morning and at night.
 
As strange and baffling as this offseason continues to be for everyone, it's
really a throwback to that era – before million-dollar contracts made the
NFL the season that never ends.
 
When Hall of Famer Floyd Little hears about Broncos safety Brian
Dawkins or QB Tim Tebow organizing off-season conditioning drills, he
cracks a smile.
 
"I used to organize offseason workouts like that too," he says. "Not only
did we do it for the conditioning, we did it for the unity too. It brought
us closer together."
 
Of course, anyone who knows Little's reputation as one of the NFL's best
conditioned players of his day, shouldn't be surprised at his type of
offseason conditioning.

"It was hardcore," he says. "A bunch of us worked out at the stadium (old
Mile High). We ran countless sprints. Then I would put on army boots and
we'd climb up and down the stadium steps. Every day there were fewer
guys out there."
 
Little's "boot camp" included conditioning drills, plus a series of 20-yard,
40-yard and 100-yard wind sprints. What we used to call "gassers."  Then
he would scale the top of Mile High Stadium 20 or more times.
 
One day a reporter and photographer from the Denver Post tagged along
to document the workout. "They could barely make it up the steps once,"
he laughs.
 
The two players that were able to keep up with Little were Ring of Fame
teammate Billy Thompson and Raiders corner Nemiah Wilson, a former
Bronco. "I used to pick up Nemiah at 8 am every morning to workout,"
recalls Little. "He would get in the car and wouldn't say a word to me the
whole way to the stadium. Later he told me, 'I used to look out my window
and pray every morning that you wouldn't show up. I hated your
workouts. But damn if you didn't show up every day.'"
 
Little admits that many players today are better conditioned than a lot of
guys from his era because of the OTAs and supervised offseason workout
regimens.
 
"Most players work harder when there are coaches watching," he says.
"That's just human nature. I think our training camps were tougher though.
It included 3 weeks of two-a-days in full pads and 6 preseason games."
 
Back then, a lot of coaches didn't worry too much about wearing their star
players out. In one 1971 preseason game, Little carried the ball 37 times.
He led the NFL in rushing that year.
 
It's obvious without a structured offseason regimen coaches from Little's
era had only training camp to get their players into football shape.
 
Now, 2011 is turning into 1971 all over again.

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