NORTON — Each day the lockout continues, it chips away at an extremely valuable time for the NFL’s rookie class.

With virtually the entire spring workout season now done because of the lockout, the rookies are losing important time when it comes to the transition process. The organized team activities, minicamps (both rookie and team) and passing camps are all now pretty much wiped from the calendar. In addition, this rookie class has had no time around teammates at the facility or working together in the weight room, not to mention time in classroom, both with coaches or just watching film. (A few were lucky enough to get playbooks on draft weekend before the lockout was reinstituted.)

Rookies continue to work out on their own, and many teams continue to engage in full-squad workouts away from their facility. (Patriots veterans are working out as a group of 12-18 in the area, but as of now, there aren’t any rookies who are a part of that group. But there’s only so much you can do when you are working out by yourself or with a few teammates.

“Oh, they’re going to be way behind,” Patriots veteran offensive Logan Mankins said Monday prior to the Joe Andruzzi Foundation Charity Golf Tournament at TPC Boston. “I remember when I was a rookie, I started Day One and I still felt like I didn’t know everything, and I was there the whole offseason. The whole training camp. Everything. They’re going to be way behind.

“I guess you’ll see the guys who can pick it up pretty fast.”

“Coming in as a rookie is always hard, so as much as you can do, it always helps,” said outside linebacker Jermaine Cunningham, who was a rookie last year. “But however it goes, they’ll just have to transition.”

For his part, Mankins said he’s spoken with first-round pick Nate Solder, a fellow offensive lineman, in hopes of getting Solder as ready as he can be for the grind of NFL life.

“He seems like a great guy. I gave him a little advice. Tried to help him out the best you can in the situation that we’re in right now,” Mankins said of Solder. “I’m more than willing to help any young guy who needs anything. Look — he’s in a tough situation right now. He doesn’t know what’s going on. he has no coaches to talk to. He’s just trying to make it in this league, and if I can help him, I will.”

With limited time in the spring — and possibly summer programs, depending on how long the lockout lasts — some veterans believe there should be some lowered expectations for this year’s rookies.

“[They’re] going to be so far behind, it’s going to be tough for a lot of those to come in and really [make an] impact,” said wide receiver Wes Welker. “They’re kind of behind the eight-ball right now. Hopefully we can get something figured out so these guys can really get up to speed on everything and really be able to play and learn a lot of things, not only from the coaches, but from the older players and things like that.
“It’s definitely a tough time. Hopefully those guys are working out and understand that they probably need to pay for some workouts, spend a little money.”
Getting into a gym on their own is key, according to Andruzzi. He was asked what sort of advice he would give to a rookie entering the league during the lockout, and he was blunt in his assessment.

“Get somewhere. Get to a gym and start getting ready,” he said flatly. “Get a program and have a good understanding of what your body needs to get ready for a tough, long football season, especially these rookies who haven’t really played a 16-game — you add in the preseason, and it’s a 20-game season. These guys have to know what their body is [in for].

“There’s only so much you can do in the weight room and on the field, but there’s a process where you can train your body to get to that point before you put those pads on. You tell them to push themselves, and when they think they can’t do anymore, do that little bit extra.”

While the draftees at least have the certainty of knowing where they’ll be and who they will be playing for — and some of the premiere picks can afford to get with trainers and into workout facilities based on what they will make down the road — undrafted free agents are still in a state of limbo. Denied the chance to sign because of the lockout, they are a criminally underrated bunch that annually becomes a key element of each NFL roster (the Patriots had several key UDFA’s on their roster last year, including BenJarvus Green-Ellis, Stephen Neal, Mike Wright, Gary Guyton, Kyle Arrington, Ryan Wendell and Dane Fletcher). But as long as the lockout is in place, they are stuck.

Andruzzi, an undrafted free agent himself coming out of Southern Connecticut State, recalls just how beneficial the spring workouts were for him when it came to getting acclimated to the NFL.

“It was huge,” he said. “For me, there were two linemen that year. I went to the Green Bay Packers, and they had a first-round pick and I was the other rookie o-lineman who was a free agent. So I had to work twice as hard. I was in that classroom, studying the playbook, studying film, in the weight room, trying to get that extra edge and get on the field and spend that extra time learning my technique after practice.

“Just being out there is what they’re missing — learning the playbook, learning everything about the whole system, and ultimately, learning your team, because your team is who you are.”