As rookies show up to training camps with veterans not far behind, NFL general managers and chiefs of staff are still looking for advice on how many players can make their rosters this season.
The 90-man strength we’re used to could be reduced to 80 to start training camp. Or 90 will be allowed to start camp with teams that will reach 80 after a certain time. At this point, no one is sure.
Health and safety are paramount as the NFL strives to play a sport that is totally incompatible with physical distancing. And with the erasure of all preseason games, it’s clear that team owners and players are aligned to ensure unnecessary risks are eliminated in the pursuit of the start of a 17-year regular season. weeks.
But there are some basic questions on the roster that the league’s GMs still don’t have answers to. Several sources I spoke with this week remain puzzled as to whether they will have to remove the undrafted free agents who they gave big (guaranteed) signing bonuses in April. If a player tests positive for COVID-19 upon returning to the facility in the next few days, will they count on the list or receive an exemption? Will GMs be forced to cut players off before they can get them into the building for a physical exam, let alone before a conditioning test and weeks before they enter the field?
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There are also relevant questions with less immediacy. How big will the training teams be? Will there be some “protected” players? Can players rack up a season for their pension while languishing on the practice squad? While important and necessary at the start of the regular season, these questions don’t have to be answered until players show up to camp.
It’s not exactly the hardest part of the job for GMs figuring out how to take down a 90 to 80 roster. Most years, a good team beat reporter can find 45 to 48 of the 53 players in the game. the team even before the start of the camp. But the dozen players at risk here feature far more in teams’ long-term plans than in any Week 1 starting position.
It’s entirely conceivable that a UDFA with a big signing bonus wouldn’t take over for their squad every time practice begins in August. Could a GM cut a late draft pick due to a need in another group of positions?
It all depends on how the list is built. A general manager pointed out to me that he would be more interested in older or more injury-prone job groups. If most of your starting linebackers are grizzled veterans who you plan to give vet days, maybe you keep linebackers low on the list to fill those days off.
Another general manager noted that it is more difficult to find quality guys in the trenches, so a team may be more inclined to keep offensive and defensive linemen rather than a ninth or tenth receiver who can be considered a dime per dozen.
The calculations for creating the preseason roster are different this year. Usually teams have what is basically a formula of how many players in certain groups of positions they need. But that’s based on how many bodies you need to get through all four quarters of ‘insignificant’ preseason football. A coach may not want to play his starting cornerbacks in most or all shows, so he keeps two more on the 90-player roster for games. Without pre-season football this year, it won’t be necessary.
Unfortunately, injuries are part of the game. No matter what this period of acclimatization looks like over the next month, players will be injured during strength and conditioning training or without padding. Any other year, if an injury occurs during a morning practice, a GM would have three to five players on a flight to camp that night and practice the next day before signing one.
Again, not this year.
As it stands, a team could sign a player on sight and not have them on the team’s premises for four to five days. This is because the entry-to-camp rules collectively negotiated by the league and union state that a player must test negative, wait two days, and test negative again before joining the team. Ideally, a player would have to be in town for at least two days before they are proven negative for COVID-19 and have a physical exam.
Of course, these rules can change once camps are underway. But whether it’s Jadeveon Clowney finding a new team or the left third-string guard looking for a home, the wait will be on.
This is why some inner circles in the league advocate some sort of little team-specific bubble. Call it a ready team. Each team would have a dozen players who are technically on the team but not counting for the roster (maybe the 10 players you would have otherwise cut to reach 80). They remain quarantined and / or tested regularly while participating in virtual meetings with strength and position coaches. In the event of an injury, they are able to receive the call and join the team seamlessly.
It would be music for any GM’s ears. But this is not a position the union is likely to take. What you are basically asking these players to do is sit in a hotel or wait for a call that may never come. Meanwhile, if this player were a free agent, he would be free to sign with any team that calls and start working on his dream within the next five days.
It’s a tough demand for guys who aren’t even officially on teams, but enough players may be willing to do if that’s what it takes for their NFL shot.
Neither the league nor the union are to blame for this unique set of challenges, but both sides must work together quickly to get the answers. Everyone tries to eliminate unnecessary risks as much as possible in order to resume play safely. Smaller list sizes accomplish this, but the issues that come with it need to be addressed as well.
