Jets return to training camp as NFL prepares for a COVID-impacted season

The New York Jets returned to Florham Park this week for training camp – but one that will be very different than training camps that they are used to.

News 12 Staff

Jul 31, 2020, 1:20 AM

Updated 1,591 days ago

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The New York Jets returned to Florham Park this week for training camp – but one that will be very different than training camps that they are used to.
“For me, I’m going to stay in my apartment and just be traveling from there to here inside the building and that’s going to be it for me,” says quarterback Sam Darnold. “It may be boring, but that’s what I’m going to have to do at this point.”
The third-year quarterback was one of the first Jets players to arrive. He says that he has been tested for COVID-19 several times. He says that for the team to stay healthy this year, it will be on the players to make good decisions.
“Coaches can tell us all day not to go out, but at the end of the day, it really comes to the players and leaders in the locker room. It’s going to be on us to have the patients to, you know, if some friends are in the city and I want to go out to the city, I’m just going to have to say no,” Darnold says.
Fans will not be allowed inside MetLife Stadium this season. But the Jets say that they do not know much about travel protocols or if any of the on-field procedures will change.
“We want to have a season…the fans want a season, you want a season and we’re going to have to huddle like we normally do, and again, we just have to trust the fact that everyone is staying safe,” says Darnold.
While the teams wait for direction from the NFL, the Jets say that they can only control what is right in front of them. And for Darnold, that means helping rookie players with the playbook and continuing to grow as a leader.
“Another thing that we’ve really established over the last year or so is culture. I think the rookies are going to come and feel that culture and we’re going to take them in with open arms and teach them all about it,” he says.
So far only one offensive lineman for the Jets has decided not to play this year due to virus concerns. For the Giants, tackle Nate Solder has also opted out.