TRAINING camp is still around a month away and the NFL is currently in a “dark period” as players and coaches take time to relax and go on holiday. 

It’ll be the last time many get a chance to spend extended time unwinding with their families until at least December.

In the early days of the 1920s and ’30s the summer camp was used to get the players into football shape after overindulging during the off-season. 

Nowadays they are expected to come back already in peak physical condition — that is even expected of them at mini camp at this stage.

Camp has morphed into an exercise in fine tuning schemes, working in high-priced draft picks and big free agent signings, and for new coaching staff to implement their ideas. In many ways it is the foundation of making a run to the Super Bowl.

With time to practice even more limited today than it ever was, teams simply can’t afford to dedicate days to getting players to drop 10lbs and instead must work on footwork, pass rushing technique and route combinations.

There is however a more brutal side to the modern-day, finessed camp. The loss and gaining of jobs has become more ruthless as squads are finalised.

Camp means different things to different players. Tom Brady (himself a late round pick in 2000), Julio Jones and Aaron Donald will be using the time to further add to their greatness and refine their already godlike skills. 

Meanwhile, for inexperienced rookies and fringe players, camp can be used to work their way up the depth chart and earn a jersey on game day.

But the struggle for an undrafted free agent, late draft selection or veterans in the twilight of their career to make a 53-man roster is real. 

Many players fade back into normalcy and never get the chance to become the superstar they dreamed of becoming.

If you watch Home Box Offices’s (HBO) Hard Knocks you will have been afforded a peak behind the curtain to the elation and heartbreak fringe roster members, and even veterans after one more crack at making a team, as their future is determined — sometimes in the most awkward and heart-wrenching fashion. 

Have you ever wondered what happened to that camp darling the media loved? He was a late-round draft pick with a quirky and likeable backstory, limited skills but knew what he did well and did it to the best of his ability? 

Sadly he was cut half way through Hard Knocks and you never hear from him again. It’s a depressing formula, but one that has become part of the furniture in the NFL.

2014 Hard Knocks favourite Tyler Starr made the roster of the Atlanta Falcons but was waived in 2016 after bouncing around several practice squads and has not played since. He has one tackle in his career. 

A success in many ways to even make it that far, but perhaps not the ending he had envisioned.

For some, a spot on the practice squad is a success but also a sign that their spot is in constant jeopardy. Being cut remains a higher risk for those lower down the ladder than it does for the former first-round pick who still hasn’t worked it out in year four.

However, there is always one. One who goes on to not only make the team, but make an impact that provides a springboard for their career and everybody sits up and asks: “How did this guy go undrafted?”

Perhaps the most famous example in recent memory is from 2014 when a little known undrafted free agent called Malcolm Butler intercepted Russell Wilson on the goal line in Super Bowl XLIX (49) to win the game for the New England Patriots.

Butler has since gone on to be considered one of the premier cornerbacks in the NFL and last summer cashed in on his meteoric rise when he signed a five-year $61.25 million contract with the Tennessee Titans. But it all started with limited snaps in training camp.

Current CBS analyst and former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo is another success story. An undrafted free agent in 2003, the 39-year-old worked his way up from third string, to back-up to eventual starting QB. 

He didn’t relinquish the job until 2016 when he injured his back in pre-season. Fourth-round pick Dak Prescott took over the mantel, and he is now in line for a huge payday after starting his first camp taking snaps with the second team offence.

Those are the success stories, but camp so often spells the end of many NFL dreams. And their brief time in the NFL makes for a cool story when they are at their next insurance conference.