NFL players could have an option to sit out 2020 in a new proposal.
Rookies for the Kansas City Chiefs and Houston Texans, the two teams who will kick off the 2020 NFL season on Sept. 10 as things currently stand, were supposed to report for the official start of training camps on Saturday, July 18. Now, that date has been pushed back to Monday, July 20, when rookies will report for COVID-19 testing. Yet, the unknown created by the coronavirus pandemic looms large.
With that being said, we could start to see how the NFL will look in the 2020 season take shape quickly. And perhaps the biggest question that we need answered lies in what the league is planning to do if players are in a situation where they want to opt out from playing this year due to pre-existing conditions, pre-existing conditions among family members or even concerns about COVID-19 in the NFL.
As reported by NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero (via Kevin Patra of NFL.com), a new proposal would make that more concrete. This proposal would allow player to opt out of the 2020 season by sending a written notice to the league by Aug. 1. It was also noted by Ian Rapoport of NFL media that a decision to opt out would be final.
Discussions between owners, the league and the NFL Players Association about what an NFL season in the coronavirus pandemic will look like and this is another huge step in that. Owners have also been discussing protocols for gameday and otherwise — which it’s about time as all teams are currently scheduled to be in training camp by July 28.
Regardless, having players make the decision to opt out by Aug. 1 makes sense from a front office perspective. There is no fault in a player trying to protect either his own health or his family’s health. However, as an organization, the front office needs as much time as possible to potentially replace a player who elects to opt out from the 2020 season.
Though this is just a proposal and nothing that has been finalized, we shall see if this is the final form that this takes or if it will be another date that is set. Either way, expect the NFL’s COVID-19 procedures to start to take shape quickly over the coming days.