Stressing that “we want to play,” Houston Texans star JJ Watt has published a list of questions that NFL players must answer before training camps open.
The Texans are expected to open the regular season Thursday, September 10 in Kansas City, with recruits for the two teams scheduled to appear at camp on Monday for COVID-19 testing and then the integration process, a source told Adam Schefter d ‘ESPN.
Watt, who said he had participated in four NFL Players Association calls with hundreds of players in the past two weeks, posted the questions on Twitter, starting and ending his message with, “We want to play.”
In the interest of having everyone on the same page in terms of what we know and don’t know right now, here are a few things I learned from four NFLPA calls in the past two weeks with hundreds of other players.
Keep in mind that our recruits must report within 48 hours pic.twitter.com/wAH1XyQenf
– JJ Watt (@JJWatt) July 16, 2020
The NFL responded to the NFLPA counterproposal on re-opening protocols related to coronaviruses Tuesday night, with a major unresolved issue being whether COVID-19 should be classified as an unrelated football injury, said one source to Dan Graziano from ESPN. NFL teams that place players on the non-football injury list are not required to pay these players.
A source told ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler that among the demands of the recent player proposal were withdrawal clauses for at-risk players (receiving a salary but no bonus), players with families at risk (winning a season and benefits) and players who leave their team after reporting (uncertain terms) if they choose not to play.
Players also request a guaranteed allowance of $ 250,000 from all players if they come to camp, and later everything is stopped due to COVID-19 problems. The amount rises to $ 500,000 if the season starts and is then stopped, the source told Fowler.
The NFLPA also wants daily coronavirus tests and no pre-season games this year, while the league wants less frequent tests (like every other day) and two pre-season games, the source said. Fowler.
Above the discussions is the spike in coronavirus cases in states like Texas, Arizona and California, and the growing possibility that those states will soon implement stop provisions that would limit large gatherings . If this happens, teams from these states may not be able to organize training camps. A prior NFL-NFLPA agreement states that teams are required to hold training camps at their own team facilities this year, and that if a team cannot open its facilities, no other team will be allowed to open its facilities.
A source on Friday told Graziano that the details of the proposals and counter-proposals change “every two to three hours”. The level of communication between the parties has increased and intensified in recent days, with both sides agreeing that time is running out.
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