The limit is 14 padded practices per season, with restrictions on the types of drills that can be run. It is considered a padded practice if the players are required to wear a helmet and shoulder pads. Drills not allowed:
- Bull in the ring and king of the circle drills
- Oklahoma drill
- OL vs DL in-line run blocking and board drills
- half-line, pods, and 3-spot drills
Of the 14 padded practices, 11 have to be run within the first 11 weeks. By the time Rizzi took over, at most he had 5 padded practices remaining to use, assuming that they didn't have more than one padded practice in any of the first nine weeks. He also obviously lost out on all the preseason padded practices.