A Gimpse Into Life In An NFL Locker Room

As a former NFL player, I spent a lot of my time in the locker room. As many people wonder what goes on inside an NFL locker room, here is a quick look.

As an NFL player, the locker room is our home away from home. This is where the team members become a family. This is where we bond and learn about each other's different cultures, personalities, and view on life.

On an NFL team, there are people from many different walks of life. People are from different races, different parts of the country, they grew up with different values, different religions, and different cultures. Being able to get to know these people and learn about their life is one of the things I enjoyed most about the NFL. It was such a great learning experience to interact with so many different people.

So what do NFL players talk about in the locker room? We talk about the same thing everybody else does. We talk a lot about our wives, girlfriends, families, children, movies, music, our problems, and of course, a lot of joking around and talking smack. On every team there are a couple of guys who love to play pranks and keep everyone guessing as to what is coming next. It is a lot of fun.

Another fun thing to do is haze the rookies. Giving rookies a hard time is always fun and it helps build camaraderie. How do we haze rookies? Well, we like to get several team members together and go out for dinner with a rookie and then make him pay the bill. We also like to make rookies carry our equipment. To really embarrass rookies, we'll make them get up in front of everybody and sing or dance. Sometimes we will give them a horrible haircut by shaving parts of their head. Sometimes we'll shave off their eyebrows too. Embarrassing rookies is always good fun.

What is inside the locker room? The locker room is setup just like home to help players relax. There are couches, big screen TV's, video games, and an attached cafeteria.

The locker room is also a place where we come together as a team to support each other, like when we lose a game or a player gets hurt or in trouble. The locker room is where a team's chemistry is created and it is that chemistry that makes a team great when they walk out onto the field.

A Gimpse Into Life In An NFL Locker Room

Green Bay Packers Helmet

A Gimpse Into Life In An NFL Locker Room

A Gimpse Into Life In An NFL Locker Room
A Gimpse Into Life In An NFL Locker Room

Green Bay Packers Helmet

NFL Players Equipped - Why Helmet Phones?

In order to help players the League may soon allow visiting teams the benefit of a helmet-to-helmet wireless communication system.

In most big ballgames, noise is good, and more noise is better. Cheerleaders, mascots and noisemakers like inflatable bat-shaped balloons are there to create a cacophony meant to raise the home team's spirits and deflate the visiting team.

More noise is better, except in the NFL.

Why? Many increasing penalties like offensive holding and false starts, stems from noise. A survey, led by the New York Times, found that more penalties, especially those for false starts, are called in domed stadiums, which are likely to be louder.

In order to help players the League may soon allow visiting teams the benefit of a helmet-to-helmet wireless communication system. Another idea consists in placing microphones in quarterbacks' helmets and speakers in the helmets of other offensive players so that play calls and snap counts can be heard despite the crowd noise.

Quarterbacks now already have earpieces that allow them to hear coaches, But the transmission is cut with 15 seconds left on the play clock.

Noise and NFL have always had a difficult relationship. The League already ruled in that matter by introducing a noise penalty in 1989. It allows the referee, at the quarterback's request, to warn the home team that the crowd was being disruptive. The referee can then grant the home team a timeout, or even call a five-yard penalty.

NFL Players Equipped - Why Helmet Phones?

Green Bay Packers Helmet

NFL Players Equipped - Why Helmet Phones?

NFL Players Equipped - Why Helmet Phones?
NFL Players Equipped - Why Helmet Phones?

Green Bay Packers Helmet