Now that training camps are underway, team owners and fantasy football fans alike are holding their collective breath, praying to reach the regular season with their rosters intact.

Chances are they won’t.

Three playmaking linebackers didn’t even make it through the offseason healthy: Dallas’ Sean Lee, Buffalo’s Kiko Alonso and Atlanta’s Sean Weatherspoon, all hurt in seemingly tame circumstances.

August inevitably will be filled with more cringes and crutches, even though the NFL has tried to make the game safer in recent years. The league has placed limits on padded practices and implemented more rules changes to protect players on both sides of the ball.

“Despite all the advances in sports medicine, nutrition and training, we just can’t prevent all injuries,” said Dr. Ed Laskowski, co-director of the Mayo Clinic Sports Medicine Center in Rochester, Minnesota. “What we can do is protect them as much as possible through training and technique.”

That involves adaptive, specialized, neuromuscular programs for players at different positions. A cornerback, for instance, has to be able to backpedal, run sideways and twist and turn on the fly in ways linemen don’t. So, there are different exercises they must do to maintain flexibility and stability in their joints, especially if they’re coming off an injury.

“You don’t train all football players the same,” Laskowski said. “A tailback’s going to be widely different than a lineman. A lineman is different than a wide receiver and very different than a corner and a safety. So, we want to train them to do their jobs as much as possible.”

Teams have changed the way they have players train and rehab from injuries in recent years.

Weight rooms are no longer a bunch of bench presses and barbells where brute force is celebrated. They have become state-of-the-art complexes with cutting edge technology where dynamic movement and plyometric programs help keep players out of the training room.

Some strength and conditioning coaches such as Denver’s Luke Richesson apply modern workout techniques like those used in mixed martial arts in their specialized programs.

Still, guys are going to get hurt.

“Really, regardless of what time of the year, as a head coach and an organization, you hold your breath,” Broncos coach John Fox said.