Patrick Willis Feeling Fresh For New Season

by David Fucillo on Jul 15, 2011 2:00 PM PDT in San Francisco 49ers News

As the NFL Lockout has worn on, one of the concerns when football returns is the potential for injuries and out of shape players when training camp gets going. We've heard about the player workouts but that was a limited amount of time and we haven't exactly been able to track these guys every minute of every day.

In light of those concerns, ESPN's Jeffri Chadiha put together a solid write-up about Patrick Willis and how this offseason has gone for him. His strong work ethic means he won't be coming to camp out of shape but more importantly, Willis says he feels more fresh now than he has in previous offseasons at this point.

In prior years, Willis would have gone through a host of minicamps and "voluntary" OTAs in May and June. Given that the 49ers have a new coaching staff they would have been afforded additionally days of minicamp meaning even more formal workouts in Santa Clara. This year, Willis has done his own thing and feels pain-free and ready to go for the 2011 season.

This will be one story line worth following as we move into the eventual 2011 football season. It will be interesting to see what kind of injury news comes out over the first couple weeks of training camp, and then also the first couple weeks of the regular season as players get used to hitting again. Will we see an increase in smaller injuries (hamstring pulls, cramps, etc) or will the time off be a benefit to the players? Do you expect a significant number of players showing up not quite in game shape?

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P Dubb could never be out of shape

by texasniner06 on Jul 15, 2011 2:45 PM PDT via mobile reply actions

P Will you are the best

Alex Smith 86%+ QB rating with 22+ TDs in 2012, hopefully! :)

by teekay on Jul 15, 2011 3:15 PM PDT reply actions

Personally expected nothing less from the man...

by Chefantone on Jul 15, 2011 3:50 PM PDT reply actions

If previous seasons have been him when he's not fresh

Patrick Willis rested is going to be a terrifying sight for the rest of the league. Hopefully, this is the season where he goes from being a terrific player to a terrific leader, Ray Lewis style…minus the stabbing people outside of nightclubs part

"Football combines the two worst things about America: It is violence punctuated by committee meetings" -George Will

by lottwasgangsta on Jul 15, 2011 5:12 PM PDT reply actions

I think there won't be any significant increase or decrease in injuries

a lot of players will be well rested but they also wont have access to their team trainers who would be of a particular level of competency. Most players wont hire trainers due to the mindset that “i’ve been working out my entire life, i know what im doing”. This thinking will cause problems as they dont know much about loading. However, the time off between OTA’s and minicap already gives players an opportunity to come in outta shape in a normal year. Between the positives of being rested and the negatives of trainer access and knowledge, i see it evening itself out.

Give tha guy a break...I remember losing most of our games because of mistakes by players that did not play the quarterback position.

I'm sure Norv Turner is a good judge of a good QB...even he said the guy can be good w/ quality people around him.

by NewAgecorner1 on Jul 15, 2011 5:30 PM PDT reply actions

Me too

But I think that logic applies to most guys…Willis, on the other hand, I have complete faith in, in terms of his ability to show up at ball 100% from the get-go. The last time we drafted a guy that good that early, his name was Bryant Young.

"Football combines the two worst things about America: It is violence punctuated by committee meetings" -George Will

by lottwasgangsta on Jul 16, 2011 11:21 AM PDT up reply actions