In the early 2000s, no stretch of the NFL calendar tested the limits of human endurance quite like Andy Reid’s training camps at Lehigh University. For veterans and rookies alike, those first sweltering days in full pads earned a nickname that stuck: “Three Days of Hell.” It wasn’t just a clever label. The Eagles would line up for back-to-back full-contact practices, each lasting nearly three hours (2 ½-hour practices twice a day), sometimes logging more padded work in a week than modern teams do all summer.
Fights broke out under the relentless sun. Trainers rushed to treat cramping limbs. Players retched on the sidelines after goal-line collisions. Trash-talking. Players throwing up, you name it. It was less like a training camp, and more like a three-day full of madness. And yet, in Reid’s mind, it was all part of forging a team tough enough to survive the journey.
“I just believe and I’ve always believed that tackling and blocking are important parts of football, and you have to work on those things at training camp,” Reid once said. And let’s face it—brutal or not, the head coach never talked the talk. He gave the results. Four playoff appearances in his first five years as the head coach. But eventually, the NFL had to step in to stop the madness. The reason? Simple: for safety concerns.
Following the 2003 season, the NFL asked the teams to eliminate two-a-days. Translation? No more brutality twice a day anymore. And it made sense. No team wants their players to get a concussion or any long-term injuries even before the regular season kicks off. And just like that, the two-a-days were banned entirely. But in Philly, the memories of those practices became football folklore. Enter Nick Sirianni, and suddenly, the training camp became softer—for a time—if not completely. The head coach changed the training camp.
But somehow, the results remained the same.
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes talks to head coach Andy Reid before the start of Super Bowl LVIII against the San Francisco 49ers at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada on Sunday, February 11, 2024. PUBLICATIONxINxGERxSUIxAUTxHUNxONLY SBP20240211706 JONxSOOHOO
While Andy Reid had his players go through an intense training camp to get the best results from them, that wasn’t the case under Sirianni’s coaching. Some old-school fans complained that Coach Sirianni’s camps aren’t tough enough. But ever since he took over, the Eagles have started strong every year. We’re talking about 9 wins and just 3 losses in the first three games since 2021. Enough to prove that the Birds are ready to play despite the lighter practices.
But before we come to a final verdict that Nick Sirianni’s training camps are softer than Reid’s, think again. Back in the 2024 training camp, Sirianni’s “country club” training camp suddenly got tough. NBC10 Philadelphia reported that the players practiced over two hours daily and endured four consecutive days of pads. They practiced in brutal heat and humidity—proof that Sirianni didn’t shy away from hard work.
And yes, the tough training camps are still fresh in Philly. Maybe not quite Andy Reid-level chaos, but definitely no vacation. The result? A Super Bowl, just a few months later.
Andy Reid runs the NFL’s toughest training camp
The Chiefs‘ success is because Andy Reid runs the toughest training camp in the NFL. That’s the usual headline ahead of every Chiefs’ training camp. Why? The days are behind when the players had to go out in the heat, grind during the training camp, and spend as much time under relentless sun as they spend in team meetings. Back in the 2023 offseason, 25 teams opted to decided to stay local (at their regular practice facility) rather than go away to the traditional training camps.
And as predictable, the Chiefs were one of the few teams that conducted the training camp on a college campus. The reason was pretty simple: until Reid is the Chiefs’ head coach, the Kansas City team will always start camp at Missouri Western State, or at least some college. “I love being up here,” the head coach said ahead of the 2023 training camp. “I look forward to it.”
The Chiefs’ players were on board that their head coach runs the most difficult training camp in the league. To spice things up, as per The Athletic, the vets in the Chiefs’ locker room tried their best to warn the rookies about Reid’s rigid camp. “I’ve told guys if you can get through Andy Reid’s camp, then you’re going to be able to get through an NFL season,” Patrick Mahomes pointed out a couple of years back.
And he isn’t the only one, and yes, they’ve been doing it since 2013, when Reid took the helm as the Chiefs’ head coach. Now that the 2025 training camp is almost here, expect the 67-year-old head coach to kick off yet another rigid training camp. To spice things up, the Chiefs are already wounded after the Super Bowl loss.
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