The fact that NFL players, by few, are choosing to exit the 2020 season should come as no surprise. Almost nothing should at the moment. Okay, if Patrick Mahomes, just signed his record deal, decided not to play, or reigning 23-year-old MVP Lamar Jackson, that might come as a surprise. But if you had a pregnant girlfriend or a loved one who lived with them, or if you discovered that you had a medical condition that makes you more vulnerable to COVID-19, then any claim to being lazy should be dropped. Bottom line: Every player has a medical, family and business decision to make when it comes to whether or not it makes sense to participate this season.
Frankly, it is not our business why someone chooses to take a small stipend (to be paid in 2021) instead of submitting to all the unknowns that will come when trying to play professional football daily (practice) and then weekly (games) in 2020 Each man has to perform his own mental calculation, weighing the risks of injury, how confident he is in the effectiveness of the tests, how realistic he believes it is to maintain operations with 150 or more people at a team headquarters, daily, in a time when large gatherings are discouraged.
What is the landscape like through COVID in the city where that player resides and stays at home with his family in his best interest? What is it like in the city where you will play and practice? Are you considering expanding your family? Do the people you live with have conditions that make them more vulnerable? How much have i saved How much can i earn How realistic is my team’s chance of winning something meaningful this season? We all stop receiving payments if / when the league closes due to COVID, so what is worth submitting to for a quarter or half of my salary?
For anyone who earns a living in the line of scrimmage or plays a position where contact is constant, the risks are even greater. Expect several more offensive and defensive linemen to unsubscribe. Many are considering it, since those who weigh more than 300 pounds and diabetics are at higher risk with this virus. Infection rates are highest in the African American community. Anyone with a history of asthma or respiratory problems will certainly consult with their physician before making such an important decision.
Foreclosure options were collectively negotiated for a reason. Please note that no one is messing with the system. There is nothing to be gained financially by staying away from the NFL in 2021; stipends are paid, tolls are contracted so that no one comes close to free agency and, duh, the player ages a year in a sport where youth is everything.
“I’ve only had the option to exclude one guy and I don’t think there are any more clients,” said one of the NFL’s most successful agents. “But I totally understand it and have talked to my boys about it. It is a personal decision that we all must respect. Each situation is individual and, at the end of the day, the big question is how many games are we really going to end up playing, anyway” .
The players do not owe anyone an explanation. Some may not want to feel like a guinea pig in what seems like a strange sociological / public health / entertainment experiment. Some may feel they have enough financial security and enough rings on the bench to be able to sit down and resume their trade in 2021, hoping for a vaccine by then. Some may not be comfortable with a teammate or opponent sweating and breathing everywhere for 90 minutes a day in practice and all afternoon / night of game day. It is your unique choice.
This was never going to be anything like a normal season, COVID-19 has wreaked havoc on the rosters and games and practice time in all other sports, and the NFL will be no different. Will all teams have half a dozen or more players to be excluded like the Patriots? No. Will any team have double-digit players to do it? It is not out of the question.
The browns timed Garrett’s deal perfectly
The Browns, like most in the NFL, knew that Joey Bosa was not playing very fast for the Chargers this season without a new deal that would make him the highest-paid defensive player in game history. This was a pretty open secret throughout the game, as Bosa’s camp made it clear a while back that no discounts would come in the hometown and that Bosa has proven his worth in his rookie contract thus far. It was a topic of conversation in the Chargers’ locker room since 2019, and rival managers and captains have been waiting for this shoe to drop since it ended last season.
I was going to pay it, and generously. It only remained to be seen exactly at what price. Given that Bosa was going to reshape the market for the game’s best defensive players, and with Myles Garrett coming out of a season shortened by suspension, the prospect of buying low, relatively speaking, always made sense to Cleveland general manager Andrew Berry. And by locking up Garrett, who was still only 25, a few weeks ago, he did exactly that.
The Browns got Garrett as a fixed cost of $ 25 million per year, with a true guarantee of $ 50 million. With Bosa securing over $ 100 million in injury guarantees, and a true $ 78 million guarantee by signing, that’s the mission accomplished for Cleveland. Garrett has a total sack per game very similar to Bosa and has a potential defensive MVP. Bosa has had injury-plagued problems, appearing in 51 of 64 possible games over four seasons, but has racked up an impressive 40 sacks in that span, reaching a double-digit total three times. Garrett has been long-lasting and has played only three seasons, already adding 30.5 sacks in 37 games. So while the Browns might have waited, making this deal now before Bosa, and before what could be a 15-catch season for Garrett, makes perfect sense.
Except for injuries, there are many reasons to anticipate both players to live up to these high paydays. However, the Browns are doing it for millions less for a player with fewer injuries and a little less tread on his tires. Garrett was seen as someone of immaculate character before his personal fouls and suspension last season, and if that proves an anomaly as most expect, the Browns are in a position to benefit especially once the salary cap and earnings skyrocket again. after the pandemic.
We haven’t heard the latest from Aaron Rodgers
I have been telling you from the time Jordan Love was selected by the Packers that this was going to be a problem. Aaron Rodgers is the ultimate sponge, a deep thinker who constantly evaluates everything around him, and no amount of revisionist history or double talk was going to change that. He saw this move, swapping to get a player where most teams didn’t have a first-round rating, precisely for what it was: a moratorium on Rodgers’ ability to end his career at Green Bay and the clock in two. years. max – in his Packer days.
His latest comments, in an interview for a podcast on The Ringer, conveyed this in the safest terms yet. Rodgers coldly and calmly made the case, in the manner of a polished litigator, over all the many receivers the Packers could have drafted there, given their need and the generational nature of this draft. He detailed his surprise, four fingers deep tequila, at Love’s pick and then the awkward position that placed the future Hall of Famer. Oh yes, and it threw out the fact that it was his marketing agent, and not the Packers. , who notified him of the selection.
Hmm. It’s not okay. Rodgers detailed, at last, how he was nothing like when he was selected with Brett Favre still on the list; Rodgers was side by side as the best QB in the class among the evaluators and really fell but now Green Bay jumped to catch a player without that profile. Consider this a rebuttal, and checkmate second-year coach Matt LaFleur’s ramblings from a few months back that the Packers simply stumbled on a stage where only Love made sense with this choice. Good luck lighting up the guy who sees and hears everything.
And just in case, Rodgers made it clear that he thought this 14-2 team was worthy of the Super Bowl and was missing just a few pieces, while the 10-6 Packers team he was drafted into was a bit fleeting when it came to Lombardi’s true hopes. The problem is that, like many in the league, I don’t think last year’s Packers team was as good as its record.
The Love swap will define this regimen forever, and I promise you if you think Rodgers was paying close attention during the draft, you still haven’t seen anything. You will watch Love like a hawk and see how he measures himself mentally and physically. Does the guy they recruited to replace me have the goods? Is he just a boy? Can I see what they saw? They are crazy?
With no offseason and no regular time with his teammates and pass receivers from the Packers, Love is already at a distinct disadvantage in his development. The way Rodgers answers the above questions, in his own mind, will be fascinating and could determine whether he is indeed there for two more years, or whether he would want to play elsewhere even earlier.
