Jason Garrett is starting his first full season as the head coach for the Dallas Cowboys after the team unceremoniously dumped Wade Phillips in the middle of last season. Garrett appears to be taking a much more “all inclusive” approach to training camp, unlike most of his other peers in the coaching world. Garrett is of the mindset that rookies in the NFL shouldn’t be singled out because of the mere fact that they are rookies. In other words, there will be no rookie hazing on Jason Garrett’s watch.

Via ESPN:

“It’s just something I believe in and we believe in as a staff,” Garrett said. “The young guys are part of our football team. They certainly need to get themselves acclimated in a lot of different ways, and our veteran players are in charge of welcoming them to the NFL in a real positive way.

“Also, there are some other things that go with that, but there’s not going to be anything that’s demeaning in any way that a rookie has to do. We just don’t believe in that.”

Well dang, that is just isn’t any fun at all now is it? I’m not saying you have to do some animal house type stuff to the rookies to make them “pay their dues” but, c’mon, carrying shoulder pads and tying them up to the goalpost with athletic tape are time honored “rites of passage” for NFL rookies league-wide. What is the harm in doing any of that? Those are team bonding moments that one just can’t get by doing things like singing Kumbaya fireside with some smores. I mean, is this an NFL training camp or summer camp?

The NFL has already taken away two-a-days and full pad/helmet practices out of the training camps under the new collective bargaining agreement and now the Cowboys taking it to a whole new level of wussdom with this move.

Make the kids earn their keep. None of the “hazing” that takes place in the NFL is all that bad anyway, its appears to simply be a good way for the players to build trust and camaraderie with their teammates. No physical harm, no foul, right?

I wonder how this judgment call of his will affect how Garrett’s players feel about him this season. Last season, apparently, he wasn’t making a lot of friends in that locker room:

Maybe he just needs to lighten up a little? Could probably go a long way to getting his team on his side.

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