Hall fo Fame quarterback and Monday Nioght Football analyst Troy Aikman believes safety measures are leading to injuries. Aikman told the "Rodeo Time Podacst" that tarining camp isn't physical enough to prepare players for the regular season. 

“Wichita Falls is the hottest place on earth,” Aikman said of the former Cowboys training camp location. “Back then you did two-a-days in that kind of heat, day after day after day, two practices a day in full pads. Now the restrictions, probably for the better, players aren’t as taxed as they were.”

“I think they only wear pads one day a week or one time a day, and they have a walk-through, and then after, I don’t know how it all reads, but it’s pretty player-friendly and favorable,” Aikman added later. “And a lot of it, whenever they negotiate the CBA, the owners tend to always win on the financial side of things. And then the players say, ‘Well, all right, then we’re not gonna practice as long, or we’re not gonna practice as often.’ So, then they tend to get concessions when it comes to how much time they’re actually at facilities. ... But some of it is ... I think that we see so many injuries, especially early in the year. A lot of soft tissue injuries, a lot of muscle pulls, and things of that nature is the players, they’re just not able to train the way that we once did, they’re not able to callous their bodies as easily. Not that they’re not training hard and all that, but it’s different training on your own as opposed to being on the football field practicing football movements.”

My take: Definitely something to it — football shape is a real thing. Players also played more in the preseason in Aikman's day. NFL starters basically go from zero to 60 now, from les demanding training camps and lighter, controlled contact directly into the rigors of an NFL regular-season game.