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The professional leagues have begun announcing plans to continue or start their respective seasons, and it was only a matter of time until the NFL did the same. According to Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network, the NFL and the NFL Players Association have agreed on a plan that requires players to arrive at training camp on July 28. Rookies are generally the first to arrive at camp, but it appears that all players will arrive at the same time. The two sides “are still negotiating what the camp will look like and how protocols will be handled.”
An additional report from Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network indicated that a shorter preseason is expected. The current preseason schedule can be found on CBS Sports, but is subject to change.
The NFL has already stated that teams should remain on their own premises during this off season rather than traveling to other communities, such as the Cowboys in Oxnard, California. Teams are also prohibited from participating in joint practices with other franchises. NFLPA Medical Director Dr. Thom Mayer also recently recommended that players not meet and practice in the midst of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
The league is exploring additional ways to keep players safe, including a prototype N95 face mask. In May, NFLPA President JC Tretter explained that player safety is a priority.
“Our priority will always be the health and safety of the players. Usually when you say that, these are things that will happen on the field. Obviously, that has new meaning with everything that happens now when you talk about health and Player safety is that you’re talking about your own personal health, “Tretter said during a conference call. “That will always be the top priority for us. There probably won’t be one, two, or five things. There is a long list of obstacles that we have to overcome and things that we have to observe and verify. We just continually look for information to be informed.”
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, finds it difficult to understand how soccer will be played this fall under anything but a bubble.
“Unless the players are essentially in a bubble, cut off from the community and tested almost every day, it would be very difficult to see how football can be played this fall. If there is a second wave, which is certainly a possibility and that it would be complicated by the foreseeable flu season, football may not happen this year, “Fauci said on CNN.
The first preseason game will be tentatively played on August 6.
