NFL players union voices concern about opening camp in South Florida as rookies await word
NFL players union officials have expressed concern about opening training camps in markets that have become hot spots for COVID-19, such as South Florida, but team doctors from those handful of markets told them in recent days that they believe it’s safe to do so.
The union has not asked for training camps in those hot spots — primarily South Florida, Houston, Phoenix and Los Angeles — to be relocated, and there’s no indication that the league is planning to do so.
Meanwhile, the NFL is moving ahead with a training schedule despite not having an agreement with the players union on several issues. The NFL informed teams Saturday that rookies, quarterbacks and injured players should report to their respective training camps next week — and that includes clubs like the Dolphins operating in coronavirus hotspots.
The memo — sent by Troy Vincent, the league’s executive vice president of football operations — stipulated that, under the NFL’s Collective Bargaining Agreement, all teams but the Chiefs and Texans (who have an earlier start) can compel rookies to report Tuesday and quarterbacks and injured players on Thursday. The remaining players will report on July 28.
But as of midday Saturday, multiple Dolphins rookies had not been told when to report to the team’s facility, according to close associates.
“A couple of weeks ago, we started to raise concerns about spikes in a number of jurisdictions, including yours [South Florida],” Smith said. “Our job as a union is to hold the league accountable to providing as safe a workforce as possible.”
NFL owners held a conference call on Friday, and there was no indication that they want to move the season back.
“NFL clubs met today via videoconference and received an update on preparations for the 2020 season,” NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said. “We will continue to implement the health and safety protocols developed jointly with the NFLPA, and based on the advice of leading medical experts, including review by the CDD. We will address additional issues in a cooperative way. All decisions will be made in an effort to put us in position to play a full regular season and postseason culminating with the Super Bowl which is the shared goal of the clubs and players.”
As a result, Smith said the union — for the first time during his tenure — called “for an emergency meeting of all of the team doctors who are the head of their medical practices for the teams in quote, unquote hot spot areas to address those very questions.”
Smith said the doctors, during that Thursday night phone call, “said, with a couple of reservations, that it was safe to open training camp and they provided their medical reasons. Some we agreed with and some we may not of….One reason we became increasingly alarmed about Houston and these other hot spots is the impact of available hospital beds and ICU beds.”
NFLPA president and Cleveland Browns center JC Tretter said: “We have players nervous about flying from a relative safe location to a hot spot with their families, their kids, their wives. That’s a major concern, with stuff going on in Houston as well as Miami. How safe is that?
“Our job is to hold the NFL accountable. Those are the questions we want answered: How safe is it to start back up a football season at this moment where teams are located going through giant spikes of this virus? The health and safety aspect has to be taken care of with the players first and foremost.”
Several Dolphins haven’t moved to South Florida until they receive clarity from the Dolphins about when rookies should report. A team spokesman did not offer an answer Friday or Saturday when asked if the team will bring rookies to camp on Tuesday, as planned.
Asked if he has considered asking the league to delay the start of the season by a month, Smith made clear that’s the league’s decision under terms of the collective bargaining agreement. But he said: “We are all trying to get to the right decision far more than we are trying to get to a fast decision. About report dates, let’s level set a little bit.”
Smith and Tretter addressed other issues during a conference call with reporters from dozens of outlets, including the Miami Herald:
▪ They said the NFL hasn’t answered these two questions they’ve asked: How many positive COVID tests on a team would it take to shut down a team?
And if, hypothetically, a center tests positive two days before a game, would the NFL require — as Tretter said — “35 players” in close contact with that player during practice to quarantine, thus leaving teams needing to find three dozen replacement players on short notice to play a game?
▪ Smith confirmed the union has asked that there be no preseason games played — the league wants two instead of four — because players need time for an acclimation period after having no formal on-field offseason program and because “to engage in two games where players would be flying all over the country, doing that prior to the season, doesn’t increase the likelihood of starting and finishing the season on time.”
The players union wants the union’s ramp-up period to include 21 days of strength and conditioning, followed by 10 days of non padded practices, then 14 days of contact acclimation. That would not allow for preseason games if the NFL wants to start the regular season on Sept. 10 as planned. Tretter said that timetable grew out of discussions with medical experts.
▪ Smith said the union wants players to be tested every day; the league reportedly wants testing every other day. “We believe daily testing is important, especially in some of these hot spots,” he said.
▪ Because revenues likely will decrease significantly without full stadiums, Smith said the 2021 salary cap could plunge from $198 million this year to $120 million unless the league and union agree to a longterm plan to smooth that out.
“If we had our preference, we would never want players this year or next year to unfairly bear the brunt of a massive decrease in revenue in football,” Smith said. “They are taking the most risk by coming back to work at this time.”
But even if the league and union cannot agree on unresolved issues, Smith left the impression he would not tell players to simply not report.
“Our job is to hold the league accountable to providing as safe a workplace as possible,” he said. “The league is the management. They have the exclusive right, like somebody who owns a plant, when does it open, when does it close, what are the hours. The CBA dictates wages, hours, working conditions.”
Though this issue didn’t come up on the call, players reportedly will not strike because that would result in the voiding of the NFL’s longterm labor deal, and the league then could institute a deal less economically friendly to players. But the NFL players union can file a grievance if they are unhappy with the league’s safety protocol.
▪ Veteran Rams left tackle Andrew Whitworth briefly appeared on the call and said he and eight other members of his family tested positive for COVID-19 and it “was definitely a scary thing and realize how contagious this is.”
▪ Tretter made clear the players are at risk even if health protocols meet the union’s expectations.
“You can pull up any picture from a December winter game and see how much breath is blown back and forth from being a yard away from each other, and understand what’s going on,” he said. “We’re all at risk. Different positions are even more at risk. Every decision we need to make this year needs to be made through a medical lens.”
▪ Smith said he doesn’t know of any player who has formally opted out of playing this season.
▪ Smith closed the call by saying: “Nothing will bring fans back to our stadiums faster than the simple decision across the country to wear a mask.”
This story was originally published July 17, 2020 at 3:44 PM.
