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Gabriel: Joint Practices Important For Back-End Roster Evaluation

By Greg Gabriel--

(CBS) When I began my career in scouting in the mid 1980s, there were some NFL clubs that would periodically get together for a few days of joint practices. While we thought they would be good for team, we quickly found out that they were just about useless.

The reason for that was, first off, there wasn't a cap on training camp roster size. Most teams had 100-plus players in camp. That's far too many players to have and still have a quality practice. The other trouble we saw was many veteran players from both squads would get together and "brother-in-law" it during the drills. By this, I mean they wouldn't go all out -- they were taking care of each other, sometimes taking turns winning reps. When viewing the practice tape, it was easy to see that this was going on, and the tape did you little good. Because of this, joints practices basically went away for a few years.

Now in the salary cap era and with smaller training camp rosters, joint practices can be really beneficial when it comes to deciding who will be on the final 53-roster of a club. In a regular camp setting, players are going against the same guys every day. They begin to know their strengths and weaknesses, then act accordingly in reps against each other. Also, because you are practicing against your own team, knowing the scheme makes it easier to react.

The two days of practices the Bears will have with the Colts this week is almost like adding two extra preseason games when it comes to evaluation. In fact, they're better than a preseason game because players will get far more reps than in a game.

This will be especially beneficial when it comes to evaluating the younger players. The coaching staffs will see how these players react and perform in game-like situations against a real opponent. The intensity level will be up a notch when it comes to practice, and the players have to play mistake-free otherwise or risk losing their jobs.

If the joint practices go well, it's fair to say that come Sunday morning the Bears staff will have a strong idea of who will be on the final 53-man roster. Except for a few players, the staff will have most of what they need to know about their team. That means they can use the final two preseason games as strictly prep for the regular season.

Another important aspect of these practices is they are secure. The game tape of each preseason game goes out to all 32 clubs in the NFL, so teams -- especially those with new coaching staffs -- often have vanilla game plans in the preseason so they don't show early season opponents different offensive and defensive strategies.

In joint practices, the practice tape stays with the two clubs and isn't shared with the rest of the league. That way, the coaching staff can work on the more exotic schemes in a live situation that they wouldn't use in a preseason game. That's beneficial when it comes to early season preparation.

Greg Gabriel is a former NFL talent evaluator who is an on-air contributor for 670 The Score. Follow him on Twitter @greggabe.

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