NFL adopts new player safety measures; Dallas Cowboys rookies to report July 21
The NFL is moving ahead with plans for a full season, although it has introduced a variety of new safety protocols for players and traveling team personnel in an effort to keep coronavirus cases that are spiking across much of the country from infiltrating locker rooms.
NFL executive vice president Troy Vincent sent a memo to all 32 teams on Saturday with their marching orders for training camp.
Rookies, including those on the Dallas Cowboys, are to report on July 21. Quarterbacks and injured players are to report on July 23, and all other players are to report on July 28.
Look for the Cowboys to finally start to get first-round pick CeeDee Lamb and the other draft picks under contract as soon as they report. They were unable to get deals done with the facilities closed due to coronavirus and players unable to undergo physicals.
NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy released a statement on Friday, and provided an update with how they see the season unfolding.
“NFL clubs met today via video conference and received an update on preparations for the 2020 season,” the league said in its statement. “We will continue to implement the health and safety protocols developed jointly with the NFLPA, and based on the advice of leading medical experts, including review by the CDC. We will address additional issues in a cooperative way. All decisions will be made in an effort to put us in position to play a full regular season and postseason culminating with the Super Bowl which is the shared goal of the clubs and the players.”
And according to ESPN, the league has decided on travel rules for this year. The requirements include:
▪ Players are barred from using public or private transportation to or in other cities.
▪ Players and staff are prohibited from leaving their hotels to go to restaurants that are open to the public.
▪ No one outside of the team’s traveling party can visit a hotel room.
▪ Masks are required for all players and staff while traveling.
▪ Team buses may operate at no more than 50 percent capacity.
▪ There must be at least one open seat between passengers on the plane.
But a number of other issues remain, and during a press conference with the Pro Football Writers Association on Friday, NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith, president J.C. Tretter and executive council member Andrew Whitworth all acknowledged as much.
“The doctors last night said, with a couple of reservations, that it was safe to open training camp,” Smith said. “They provided their medical reasons. The league has made the decision that they want to start training camp on time. The role of the union is to hold them accountable on how to make sure it’s safe.”
Said Tretter, who plays center for the Cleveland Browns: “We’ve had coaches say the [health and safety] protocols are too much to ask, coaches come forward saying, ‘Everyone’s going to get sick, so we might as well all get sick together.’ Those attitudes can’t happen. There are consequences to getting sick.”
And Tretter said the players are taking on inherent risks that can’t be avoided the moment they step on the field because the game of football requires players to operate in close proximity to each other and breathe in each other’s faces.
“I’m a center,” Tretter said. “At this time, more than any, I have a very dangerous job. This is going to be a battle of risk mitigation and providing opportunities for guys to make safe decisions.”
The league and the NFLPA have yet to agree on whether COVID-19 will be categorized as a “non-football injury.”
There is still no determination how many preseason games will be played, if any at all, the frequency of COVID-19 testing as well economic issues in regards to salary cap and opt-out options. Players on the reserve non-football injury list are not required to be paid.
Smith said no player has formally decided to skip the 2020 season out of a concern of contracting the virus, yet he knows that it’s an issue that will likely need to be addressed.
“Are there some things that are incredibly important to our players about being able to opt out?” Smith asked rhetorically. “Yes. We don’t want players unfairly punished by it, in the same way that we wouldn’t want our players unfairly punished ... because of testing positive.”
