There are about 2,600 players in NFL training camps. Just 12 of them are on the league COVID-19 injured reserve list.
The NFL does not use the kind of bubble that the NBA and NHL use, but it is clear that the precautionary measures that each team follows (a pseudo-bubble, if you will) work well.
With the NFL opener three weeks from Thursday, that’s not the only positive news for the chance to play football in the fall.
The FDA approval last weekend of the coronavirus SalivaDirect test protocol could replace current test measures and dramatically reduce the lag time for results and allow cost-effective daily, or even twice-daily, testing of players. That should allow any infectious player to be quickly quarantined and outbreaks within teams limited. As the season draws to a close and continues, that could help.
Perhaps most importantly, this is: The NFL can learn a lot by following the mentality, if not the policies, of an unexpected source.
Major League Baseball.
Yes, baseball. No, MLB did not have the smooth start that the NFL enjoyed. By long to not. Several teams have been plagued with outbreaks, including the Miami Marlins being closed just four days into the season.
St. Louis Cardinals have played just 11. “data-reactid =” 38 “> Entire series are delayed”. “Policy has been rewritten on the fly. Some players, namely in Cleveland, have proven that they are not able to follow simple guidelines. The result is a regular oddball season that saw entry on Wednesday to six teams playing 25 games. while the St. Louis Cardinals have played just 11.
However, MLB has shown the importance of what the NFL already knew and could probably practice.
Just keep going. There is power in plowing ahead.
No matter how rocky it got in baseball, no matter how loud the calls were to give up early, they kept going. There has been chaos – at one point Miami needed to rent sleeper buses to drive nearly half of the team home from Philadelphia in the middle of a hurricane. Yet the night went by through games all over the country.
There’s a tip here. If the season is a disaster, pull the plug. Yet a clear idea what that line is in the sand and hang on to it.
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred shrugged off criticism and did not allow perfection to be the enemy of progress. We closer to the halfway point of the regular season with the league considering a bubble after postseason to increase the chances of a World Series.
The NFL was always determined to do this. It has refused to change much of anything since the pandemic broke out. The competition was blamed for the potentially poor optics of setting up free agency and the annual draft during an economic downturn, but came out of both with rave reviews.
Standards have changed dramatically, training camp precautionary measures are new and preseason games have been shut down, but otherwise the September 10 season will begin, just as it was always intended, in Kansas City.
The NFL has always been about blunt force. Whether it’s on the field or in political arm-twisting for new stadiums or in squashing rival leagues popping up from time to time. A virus is different, yet it is approached in the same way.
There is no Plan B. No one needs to consider that.
considered a “bubble” after a season). “data-reactid =” 52 “> Will it work? Nobody knows for sure. Full contact training (and close) has just begun. Games will of course bring an extra challenge, the same with travel. The season is very long like the Super Bowl not until February 7 (although the league acknowledged that it is at least considered a “bubble” after a season).
But MLB has shown a way. There is no reason to believe that an outbreak on a team has caused a widespread outbreak in the community. Players are mostly starting to settle into the routine.
The initial efforts were overcome, or simply survived. The NFL will almost certainly face similar challenges. This may not go so well forever. Maybe each team does not play all 16 games. Oh, no. That does not mean they have to give up.
This will not be easy. That does not mean it can not be done.
It’s not often that MLB teaches the NFL everything, in this case baseball has shown interest by simply pushing instead of shutting down.
