NFLPA members voted on a conference call this week not to play any pre-season games until the 2020 season, Mike Garafolo of the NFL Network reported on Friday.
The vote came following a discussion within union management on the advisability of playing preseason games, and after two days of time to reflect on the current situation regarding a return to work in the middle of During the COVID-19 pandemic, the players decided in favor of a longer runway in preparation for the NFL regular season. The NFL, for its part, maintains its desire to reduce the pre-season schedule from four games to two in order to create a longer build-up period for players.
The league believes it is their right under the current collective agreement to set the preseason calendar, according to Garafolo.
“It’s clear that the union and the league are not on the same wavelength when it comes to the length of the preseason,” said Garafolo during his report on NFL NOW.
Training camps are slated to begin in late July, and this week the NFLPA presented a potential four-step protocol plan for a single preparation period that would replace the preseason.
The first step would be medical exams for all players upon arrival at the camp, which would last three days, according to Tom Pelissero of the NFL network. The next 21 days would be the second step, a strength and conditioning program to prepare the players’ bodies for a return to football activity. From there, the teams would move on to a third stage that would look like OTAs in which players would participate in 10 days of contactless and unpadded practices before finally moving on to a fourth stage of 14 days which would focus on what traditionally looks like camp. like, with potentially 10 total practices with up to eight padded practices.
This total of 48 days would immediately precede week 1, replacing the preseason games with the longest preparation period desired by the NFLPA.
Naturally, stakeholders are concerned about the safety of operations as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread in many regions of the country.
“The players I am told express a number of concerns about this call,” Garafolo said in a previous report on NFL NOW. “Not the least, if there is so much concern about this virus right now, why are we going back to work, period? And I was told that one of the medical experts said that you had to decide on an individual basis. Basically, are some players going to opt out based on risk factors and what they think about themselves and their family? So this is something to watch out for to come up. “
As with everything, this remains an evolving situation. For now, however, we will continue to await a final decision on the preseason.
