Buckle up for the unknown

In about 24 hours, the most interesting and daring experiment in the history of the National Football League will commence.

Summer training camps will open Tuesday for 30 of the league’s 32 teams as the last of the four major sports leagues in the United States steps into the 2020 battle against a global virus pandemic.

It does so with zero preparation for what lies ahead. No minicamps. No OTAs. No meetings, at least in person. It is nothing more than a virtual run-up to a season that has – and will continue to have – many, many more questions than answers.

The NFL, much like the NBA, NHL and MLB, is flying blindly and defiantly into the unknown against an enemy that has confounded a planet. All in the name of returning to some sort of normalcy the way we have grown accustomed to living our lives.

The NFL has laid down a stringent set of rules for teams to adhere to in an effort to provide what it hopes will be a smooth path to Super Bowl LV (55) in Tampa, Fla., next Feb. 7.

Without going into the specifics of the protocols, training camp for the Browns starts Tuesday in Berea and lasts 41 days, concluding on Sunday, Sept.  6, exactly one week before the season opener in Baltimore.

There will be no exhibition games, agreed to in arbitration between the league and NFL Players Association in an extraordinary concession by the owners. It will be the first preseason with no games in the history of the Browns, maybe even the league.

Camp begins with COVID-19 testing and virtual meetings and concludes on Sept. 6 with padded practices (just 14), which begins with what is called a “contact integration period.”

A vast majority of teams in the league don’t have to worry about preparing for this season with strategic and tactical philosophies already in place. Adjusting to the league’s new virus protocols should not be a problem for them.

Not so with the Browns, who have a rookie head coach and brand new coaching staff. It’s going to be hard enough plugging in a whole different system on both sides of the football, let alone making certain the club adheres to the new off-the-field protocols.

Kevin Stefanski will have to be a magician to take arguably the most talented team (at least offensively) this franchise has fielded since 1999 and mold it into a winner.  Fairly or unfairly, much will be expected of him and his staff.

Establishing a winning culture is hard enough to begin with, especially with this franchise in the last two decades. Doing so with a team he has never coached before is a challenge that might take more than one or two seasons to achieve.

Among the new protocols are strict social behaviors. Players will be urged to stay at home when not practicing. No indoors nightclubs. No indoors parties. No indoors concerts. In other words, no fun. All in the interest of staying safe from the virus.

The league is determined to beat this virus. Caving to the NFLPA’s demands to cancel all exhibitions is a sign it will cooperate to the nth degree to pull this off.

That, and the pandemic, definitely make this one of the most interesting and fascinating seasons in the history of this storied league.