A wild 2020 makes for a must-see season of ‘Hard Knocks’

You have to watch this season.

It’s been true for a few years now: Hard Knocks jumped the shark in the era of social media and smart phones, when we can see more behind-the-scenes stuff in sports — including NFL training camps — than ever before. Last season’s edition with the then-Oakland Raiders was a bit of a snoozer.

But! After viewing the first episode of the 2020 season starring the Los Angeles Rams and Chargers, I can declare it’s must-see television.

In 2020, we’re not getting as much access as we normally would in training camps. Teams have rigorous testing and social distancing rules they need to follow. And there are conversations that continue to happen about the social change that exploded in recent months.

Hard Knocks pulled back the curtain on all of that in its first ep. At first, I wasn’t sure I cared to see endless shots of players getting their nostrils swabbed or for Rams head coach Sean McVay to repeatedly talk about mask-wearing.

But look at the picture that all painted. Players, coaches and everyone around these organizations need to think about something they’ve never thought about before. The testing will be constant. Everyone has to consider their interactions in a whole new way.

And it changed how they’re prepping for the season. Sure, there are no preseason games. But seeing both the Rams and Chargers do full-lineup walkthroughs was surreal. We usually get some camp dust-ups and big plays in the first episode. Instead, we got to watch Chargers rookie Justin Herbert make some on-target throws to some nets.

And then there was the conversation the Chargers had that included long-snapper Cole Mazza, who expressed his concern about kneeling during the national anthem, leading to an honest conversation about what protests mean and don’t mean, and how, as special teams coordinator George Stewart said, “You protest in your own way.”

This is the year in which we need Hard Knocks to truly show us what’s going on in these super-modified training camps, and in just one episode, we saw just how much is different in 2020.

AND, on top of that, we even still get some of our usual player content, like Aaron Donald’s muscles:

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