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Former Dallas Cowboys star Troy Aikman offered his own theory as to why there has been a spate of early-season injuries in the NFL over the past few years.
The Pro Football Hall of Famer said he believed the NFL’s rules to help players avoid injuries may actually be the cause of them.
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Troy Aikman arrives on the red carpet for the 2023 Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium on August 5, 2023. (Kirby Lee/USA TODAY Sports)
On Friday’s “Rodeo Time Podcast,” Aikman fondly recalled working out two a day in Wichita Falls, Texas, where the Cowboys held summer training camp. He suggested that while players are not as “taxed” as they were in the 1980s and 1990s during camps, they may not be as prepared for the toll their bodies take at the beginning of the season.
“I think they only wear bandages one day a week or once a day and they have a review and then I don’t know how it all sounds, but it’s pretty player-friendly and favorable,” Aikman said. “And a lot of it, when they negotiate the CBA, the owners tend to always win on the financial side of things. And then the players say, ‘Well, OK, we won’t practice as long, or we won’t practice as often.’ Then they tend to make concessions when it comes to how much time they are actually at the facilities.
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Troy Aikman before the game between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Jacksonville Jaguars at EverBank Stadium on December 4, 2023. (Nathan Ray Seebeck/USA TODAY Sports)
“I think the only people who don’t have a voice in those negotiations are the coaches. They kind of have to wait until the dust settles and say, ‘Okay, how often are we going to get them?’ like we once did, they’re not as easily able to harden their bodies. Not that they don’t train hard and all that, but it’s different to train on your own as opposed to being on the football field and training football moves.”
Aikman made it clear that he was a fan of making changes in the name of player safety, but he was concerned that they might do more harm than good to some.
Cincinnati Bengals’ Joe Burrow, Minnesota Vikings’ JJ McCarthy, San Francisco 49ers’ Brock Purdy and Baltimore Ravens’ Lamar Jackson were among the quarterbacks who missed time early last season.
Baltimore Ravens’ Lamar Jackson throws during team warmups before an NFL preseason football game against the Dallas Cowboys on Saturday, Aug. 16, 2025, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)
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Player safety will be put back in the spotlight as the NFL reportedly eyes a Thanksgiving Eve game with the possibility of expanding to an 18-game schedule in the future.
