non-contact competition – Giants coach John Harbaugh says NFL offseason practices may ban tackling, blocking, and even touching the quarterback, but he still expects players to look competitive—by focusing on beating their own technique, assignments, and execution rather than chasing o
The offseason rule is blunt: no contact. No tackling, no blocking, no physical pass coverage, and certainly no touching the quarterback. On a field where bodies aren’t allowed to collide, it’s easy for competitive energy to drain away.
Giants coach John Harbaugh doesn’t want that to happen.
He said he still wants players showing a competitive edge, just not the kind that comes from physical battles. Instead, he’s pushing a different target—competing with themselves, trying to be better every day than the day before.
“There’s no there’s no contact at all,” Harbaugh said. “You got to work with the guys that do that because guys get fired up. they want to go and you got to make sure that you can’t get near the quarterback. You can’t pull and push guys. There’s no physical contests out here. There’s no competition in the sense of you’re competing one-on-one to make a play because there’s no contact. and football is a contact sport. So, it’s more about I’m competing against myself, my technique, my assignment, my ability to execute really fast.”.
Harbaugh also framed the no-contact reality as something the league has to master. He said he’s impressed by how players avoid collisions even while moving at full speed.
“I think one of the things that’s amazing to me, I tell these guys this. . . . You’re standing right here on the sideline and you’re seeing how fast these guys move, right?. And how big they are. And there’s 22 guys intersecting full speed. I’m just surprised that there’s not more more collisions in the intersection which goes to show you how talented these guys are. And I think it’s across the league in the NFL. For them to practice fast like this on a no-contact basis and not run into each other is just an incredible thing and it’s a testament to their abilities. ” Harbaugh said.
That emphasis on execution showed up in how he talked about quarterback Jaxson Dart. Harbaugh pointed to Dart as a player who competes with himself—demanding completions even when the defense isn’t truly contesting throws the way it would in live contact situations.
“We are competing against ourselves, against execution,” Harbaugh said. “The offense should complete most passes because passes aren’t being contested at the catch point right now. So if we’re executing and doing things the right way, we should be completing passes out here. The ball shouldn’t hit the ground too often. He understands that and that’s why he wants things to be right, play after play.”.
Put together, the message is simple even if the practice environment isn’t: Harbaugh still wants sharp, urgent football energy. He just wants it built through technique and repetition—without the physical pressure that usually powers competition.
John Harbaugh New York Giants NFL offseason practices non-contact drills competition execution Jaxson Dart quarterback