With the July 4 holiday in the rearview mirror, during normal times, the next notable event on the calendar for most football fans would be the Hall of Fame game that kicks off the NFL preseason. However, with the league canceling that game weeks ago due to the ongoing pandemic, and with the rest of the NFL preseason likely halved, in addition to the reduction in the size of the training camp roster, the NFLPA has recommended even more drastic reduction in the preseason. Specifically, the union’s board of representatives voted Thursday to recommend quitting the preseason in its entirety, according to ESPN’s Dan Graziano.
In the NFLPA call Thursday night, the union’s board of representatives voted unanimously to recommend that the NFL not play preseason games this year. It is unclear whether the league, which has already decided to cut the preseason from four games to two, will consider the recommendation.
– Dan Graziano (@DanGrazianoESPN) July 3, 2020
That might seem like a drastic step for the union, as the union seems to want to give the players on the edge of the roster the best chance of success. However, caring for players on the sidelines ignores a simple fact: Players don’t gain game controls for playing during the preseason.
To use the most extreme example on the Seattle Seahawks list, and one of the most extreme examples in the league, quarterback Russell Wilson has a base salary during the 2020 season of $ 18,000,000. Players earn their base salary weekly, earning 1/17 of it for each regular season game in which they are in full pay status, as well as the rest week. For Wilson, that means that during the regular season he earns $ 1,058,823 per week.
By contrast, during preseason, all players are paid a daily rate per week. Rookies get $ 1,150 a week, while veterans get $ 2,000 a week. Even for newbies on a minimum wage contract, the difference between a $ 1,150 weekly check and a $ 35,882 game check is huge.
And that’s why the union seeks to skip the preseason in its entirety. While the preseason is certainly an opportunity for someone like Kasen Williams or Jazz Ferguson to record some impressive works, the union’s job is to see to the core of its members. Specifically, those players who can earn game checks during the 2020 regular season. With travel logistics combined with the possibility of widespread exposure over the course of any three-hour game, creating the opportunity for a short-circuit outbreak in the season, the union would obviously prefer players to win as many checks as possible before things. being closed That means giving up risky events where players are paid a small fraction of what they do during the regular season.
What that means is that, with the possibility of an outbreak derailing the season across the league at any time, the union simply wants to eliminate the starting games for which players don’t get paid high. It’s that easy. It may appear that the union is neglecting the younger players at the edges of the roster with this approach, and that is exactly the case, because the union is seeking to protect the core of its membership. In short, it’s all about dollars, and in this case, the best way for the union to put the most dollars in the hands of its members during the 2020 season is to simply skip the preseason.
Now it’s just a matter of waiting to see if the league closes or not.
