The NFL’s annual pre-season has always had controversy around it mostly because of the quality that is displayed on the field and the simple fact that most players would rather spend their time practicing rather than playing an exhibition game.
The desire to sit out of preseason games is much greater for players in 2020 due to the high risks and uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic that has swept the nation since March.
As previously reported by NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero and CBS Sports’ Jonathan Jones, the NFLPA confirmed to its players in a conference call on Tuesday evening there will be no pre-season for the 2020 season.
Canceling the preseason this year has been the NFLPA’s stance all along, while the NFL has reluctantly agreed to the proposal. The league had initially cut down the pre-season from four games to two last month and recently proposed teams play just one game on Monday before finally canceling the pre-season all together.
As part of the two side’s negotiations to keep players safe, the training camp roster limit is expected to be reduced from the traditional 90-man limit under normal circumstances to 80. Meaning every NFL team with more than 80 players must trim their rosters before training camp begins later this month.
The NFL and NFLPA have made a great deal of progress in negotiating a proper plan to combat the pandemic and that includes the testing of players.
On Monday, the two sides agreed to conduct daily testing for the first two weeks of training camp. If the infection rate over this span drops below 5% among Tier 1 (players, coaches, trainers, team physicians) and Tier 2 (GMs, team presidents, and football operation employees) personnel, then testing will be reduced to every other day.
The league will also have a pretesting period before players will be granted access to team facilities. On Day 1 and Day 4, players will endure testing and will be educated remotely on Day 2 and Day 3. As long as tests are negative, access will be granted on Day 5 and daily testing will begin as will the start of training camp.
“Our union has been pushing for the strongest testing, tracing, and treatment protocols to keep our players safe,” the NFLPA said in a statement Monday regarding the COVID-19 testing procedures. “The testing protocols we agreed to are one critical factor that will help us return to work safely and gives us the best chance to play and finish the season.”
While things will be a little different this fall, it’s all part of the NFL and NFLPA’s effort to keep players healthy in order to ensure the 2020 season will be played without any interruptions, stoppages or delays.
