There is no other time on the NFL calendar quite as uniquely intense as preseason.
Day in and day out, players and staff are in the building together for 12-plus hours each day. Jobs are on the line, and the summer heat adds a grueling layer to the grind. Fans come out in droves to watch their team start to find their rhythm for the upcoming season. In short, it is no wonder HBO found itself a hit show all those years ago by going behind the scenes to follow the storylines around this time of the year.
From the kitchen staff to the grounds crew, everyone who steps into OrthoVirginia Training Center at Commanders Park must rise to the demands of preseason. Take a look at some of the wacky, educational and interesting stats that emerged from the past month of football:
Hottest Day:
98 degrees on Friday, July 28
Number of…
Total practice time:
2,550* mins (42.5 hours)
Total yards ran by every player:
6,502,511* (3,694.6 miles)
Sprints by every player:
2,843*
Water bottles carried out by the athletic training staff every day:
66
Accelerations by every player:
71,267
Footballs at each practice:
120
Loads of laundry per day:
16-20
Buckets of paint used for the field:
360*
Fan packs given away at weekend practices:
15,000
Refillable water bottles given away:
20,000
Eggs used in the kitchen:
12,600*
Analytics reports pulled from the football solutions team:
3,130
Cucumbers and tomatoes purchased for the kitchen:
0 (they were all grown in the garden at OrthoVirginia Training Center!)
Edited photos given to the content team (not counting preseason games):
3,656
*Calculated up until Aug. 20
