Coronavirus Safety Protocol - please read and discuss

[Futureshock]

Vaccinated players who test positive have a much quicker path to return

Posted by Mike Florio on July 23, 2021, 10:02 AM EDT

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One of the lingering (but fading) front-line arguments against the COVID vaccine is that people who get vaccinated can still get COVID. That’s correct; they’re also far less likely to end up hospitalized, ventilated, or six feet under.

From the NFL’s perspective, the 2021 protocols contemplate the possibility/inevitability of vaccinated players testing positive. Based on Thursday’s memo, however, vaccinated players who test positive will have a much easier path to returning to action.

From the memo, if a vaccinated player tests positive and is asymptomatic, he will be isolated and contact tracing will promptly occur. He then will be permitted to return to duty after two negative tests at least 24-hours apart and will thereafter be tested every two weeks or as directed by the team’s medical staff.

In contrast, an unvaccinated player who tests positive, will be isolated for a period of 10 days and will then be permitted
to return to duty if asymptomatic.

There’s another benefit to being vaccinated. For players who get the vaccine, there will be no quarantine a a result of close contact with an infected person. For unvaccinated players, close contact results in a five-day quarantine.

It’s another reason for unvaccinated players to realize that getting vaccinated has tangible competitive advantages, by making it easier for vaccinated players to be available to play.

[Futureshock]

Teams now have clear incentive to cut unvaccinated players (but plenty will be safe, due to skill or salary)

Posted by Mike Florio on July 23, 2021, 8:32 AM EDT

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NFL teams cannot cut players who have not received the COVID vaccine. Thursday’s memo creates the clearest incentive yet to cut players who have not received the COVID vaccine.

The prospect of forfeiting games ties directly to outbreaks among unvaccinated players and/or staff. Thus, the fewer the number of unvaccinated players on a team, the lower the chance that unvaccinated players will force a team to take a loss without playing the game.

The financial penalties tied to forfeited or postponed games create an even greater incentive to shed unvaccinated players. Thursday’s memo explains that, for a rescheduled game due to a COVID outbreak among unvaccinated players on one of the teams, the team with the outbreak “will be responsible for all additional expenses incurred by the opposing team,” along with any reduction in revenue that is directed to the league-wide visiting-team pool for the postponed game. If the game is forfeited, the team responsible for the forfeit must make the payment to the league-wide visiting-team pool for the canceled game.

Other sanctions could apply. “If a game is cancelled because of a Covid outbreak among unvaccinated players/staff, in addition to the financial penalties identified above, the Commissioner retains the authority to impose additional sanctions, particularly if the Covid outbreak is reasonably determined to be the result of a failure by club personnel to follow applicable protocols,” the memo explains.

So, again, the fewer the unvaccinated players, the smaller the chance that teams will experience such competitive and/or financial hardships. This means that unvaccinated players on the roster bubble or close to it will be at extreme risk for being released — even though vaccination status technically cannot be a factor.

The NFL Players Association currently seems unlikely to attack teams that make decisions in part on vaccination status, as long as teams are discreet about it. (In other words, don’t say out loud what Bill G.M. Brandon Beane said earlier this year.) That won’t stop one or more players from insisting on filing a grievance, or from hiring outside counsel who would be far more aggressive about proving that the player would have been kept on the team but for his decision to not be vaccinated. (In any such grievance, Thursday’s memo would be Exhibit A.)

Then there’s the fact that some players won’t be cut even if they insist on not being vaccinated. Whether it’s skill or guaranteed salary or salary-cap consequences arising from a termination or trade, certain unvaccinated players are and will be untouchable.

Case in point: Per a source with knowledge of the situation, one NFL team currently has eight players who will not under any circumstances get the vaccine. And seven of those eight players will not under any circumstances be released because of it, due to their skills and abilities as players.

That likely will be the case for plenty of teams. Although some players who won’t be vaccinated have opted to sound off about it, others surely are choosing to be silent. As we get closer to Week One, we’ll surely hear more about who is and isn’t vaccinated, and about whether those players who aren’t vaccinated will be on 53-man rosters when the season starts.

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Not finalized yet, practice squad and IR rules for 2021 are likely to match 2020

Posted by Mike Florio on July 23, 2021, 7:44 AM EDT

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Thursday’s memo from the league to all teams regarding 2021 COVID procedures explains at one point that games won’t be posted or rescheduled to avoid roster issues caused by injury or illness of players “in light of the substantial roster flexibility in place for the 2021 season.” The memo does not specify the substantial roster flexibility.

Per multiple sources, the rules for 2021 have not been finalized. It’s anticipated, however, that the 2020 rules will apply for 2021.

This includes, for example, a 16-person practice squad, with the ability to call up one or more of them as late as 90 minutes before kickoff, in order to replace players who suddenly may land on the COVID-reserve list.

It also includes a short-term injured reserve list, allowing teams to set an injured player aside for only three weeks before bringing him back. While this approach allows aggressive coaches to stash certain players, the league decided last year that the maximum availability of players outweighed the potential for shenanigans.

The rules likely will be finalized soon. If the league is willing to use the same procedures that it used in 2020, there’s no reason for the union to object. It creates more jobs and more opportunities for players.

[Futureshock]

Michael Irvin: My comments weren’t political, they were about winning

Posted by Michael David Smith on July 23, 2021, 5:22 AM EDT

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Hall of Fame wide receiver Michael Irvin sparked a lot of debates this week when he said that players who don’t get vaccinated aren’t doing everything they can to win a championship. Irvin said he’s fine with people arguing about that, but those arguments shouldn’t be political.

“Here’s what gets me. I don’t mind you coming after me. I don’t mind you say what you say. Do two things though. Don’t put me into your political discussion,” Irvin said on KRLD-FM, via the Dallas Morning News. “Oh, right wing, left wing. I don’t give a damn about that. I don’t care about the right wing, I don’t care about the left wing — I only care about a ring. Not the right wing, left wing — a ring. I don’t care about the conspiracy theorists, ‘oh they’re trying to kill us.’ If the government wanted you dead, our asses would all be dead right now. So just shut up with all of that.”

Although the COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective, Irvin said that even if he worried about side effects, he would have gotten the shot when he was a player because he wanted to do everything he could to win.

“My thing is, even if I had them, even if I had those fears, that there’s something here, I still am going to get vaccinated.” he said. “Because the fear don’t override my desire to win a championship.”

NFL teams with fewer vaccinated players will be at a competitive disadvantage because they will have more restrictions on team meetings and access to team facilities. Irvin is right that unvaccinated players aren’t doing everything it takes to win.

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Bills defensive end Jerry Hughes embraces the COVID vaccine

Posted by Mike Florio on July 22, 2021, 9:02 PM EDT

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Yep, the Bills have a schism.

At a time when receiver Cole Beasley has made his opposition to the COVID vaccine clear and only hours after guard Jon Feliciano chimed in as anti-vaccine, defensive end Jerry Hughes set them both straight on Twitter.

“Sooo the top scientists in the entire world got together to figure out how to combat Covid-19,” Hughes said. “And when they came up with a vaccine, you question them. They are trying to save lives and you have doubt.”

Thank you, Jerry Hughes. Frankly, more players need to come out and say the same thing. The bigger the star, the better.

I’m not going to name names; we know who the stars are. Every one of them should make a public pro-vaccine push, if they believe in the vaccine. And if they don’t, they should listen to Jerry Hughes.

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After Thursday’s memo, anti-vaccine sentiment could cause locker room discord

Posted by Mike Florio on July 22, 2021, 7:12 PM EDT

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Teams with high vaccination rates will have a competitive advantage. They also will minimize the potential internal turmoil.

In Buffalo, a full-blown COVID schism could be on the way, after Thursday’s memo making it clear that teams that can’t play due to COVID outbreaks among unvaccinated personnel will forfeit games. In addition to receiver Cole Beasley‘s periodic anti-vaccine Twitter rants, guard Jon Feliciano has opened up with his views on the matter. At the same time, receiver Stefon Diggs seems to be on board with the simple logic tying vaccinations to being available to play.

“It’s been proven that COVID was made in lab,” Feliciano tweeted. “Fauci also a part of Pfizer that’s why ppl don’t want to get the vaccine. Sad to come to the realization that you can not trust the government.”

Even if COVID was made in a lab (and it quite possibly was), that doesn’t matter when it comes to beating it. The vaccine has been proven to reduce the instances of serious injury and death for those who get it. And the persistent (and inaccurate) attacks on Anthony Fauci trace to one specific person to whom Fauci refused to kowtow. (And that person got vaccinated after nearly dying from COVID pneumonia.)

There’s no point trying to get Feliciano to unwash his brain, even as far-right politicians like Ron DeSantis and far-right commentators like Sean Hannity urge their base to get vaccinated and, in turn, avoid dying from COVID. But there are folks in the so-called movable middle who finally may snap out of it and get vaccinated.

The #StickToFootball point for now is clear. Some teams will have locker-room issues, especially if some players continues to refuse to get vaccinated even after Thursday’s clear indication that teams who can’t play due to outbreaks among the unvaccinated will forfeit games. The teams that can avoid such problems will have a better chance of competing with those that can’t.

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NFLPA on players not being paid in event of a forfeited game: “The same basic rules applied last year”

Posted by Mike Florio on July 22, 2021, 5:04 PM EDT

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The notion that a forfeited game will result in players or both teams losing their game checks has sparked an obvious question: What doe the NFL Players Association think about this?

We have the answer. The NFLPA thinks it’s fine, because it’s the same rule that applied in 2020.

In an email to membership issued in response to Thursday’s memo from the NFL to all teams, the unions said, “We remind you that the same basic rules applied last year.”

As noted by the NFLPA, if games were missed in 2020 because of a COVID outbreak, nobody would have gotten paid.

“The only difference this year is the NFL’s decision to impose additional penalties on clubs which are responsible for the outbreak and the availability of proven vaccines,” the memo explains. “The protocols we jointly agreed to helped get us through a full season last year without missing game checks and are effective, when followed.”

It’s not a surprise. Even though the NFLPA has not agreed to make vaccines mandatory, the NFLPA realizes (to its credit) that players should get vaccinated. That’s why the NFLPA hasn’t fought the league’s efforts to create real incentives to get vaccinated — and real disincentives for players who don’t.

To the extent that some players don’t like it, well, that’s to be expected. Unanimity rarely exists on any issue in a union with members having such diverse interests. However, majority rules in the NFLPA. Given the raw number of vaccinated players, the majority has spoken: the players think the players should get the vaccine.

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DeAndre Hopkins tweets, deletes contemplation of retirement over COVID vaccine

Posted by Mike Florio on July 22, 2021, 4:36 PM EDT

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The NFL’s effort to get players to get vaccinated is having the desire effect. Sort of.

Incentives and disincentives (like the possibility of non-vaccinated players causing a forfeiture) have the broader goal of getting players to choose to get vaccinated. It’s causing some players to consider getting out of the game.

Cardinals receiver DeAndre Hopkins tweeted, then deleted, this message: “Never thought I would say this, but being put in a position to hurt my team because I don’t want to partake in the vaccine is making me question my future in the NFL.”

It costs Hopkins nothing to question it. If he ultimately retires, however, he’d owe the Cardinals $22 million in unearned signing bonus money. Maybe that’s why he deleted the tweet.

Regardless, it will be interesting to see whether any players actually quit the game over a reluctance to get vaccinated and the increasing pressure the NFL is placing on players to choose to get the shot(s). If they do, however, others will happily take their place. Even with increasing pressure to be vaccinated, the supply of willing NFL players will continue to far outweigh the demand.

[Forsh]

Not sure about the Lions roster and vaccination. Taylor Decker is the only guy I've heard say anything about it (anti-vaxxer, so he'll prob miss some time this season).

[Forsh]

A big problem this season is that with things in general more open and social (which is great), you'd probably expect there to be more Covid transmission esp among the unvaccinated. It's gonna come into the locker rooms of teams that have a high % of unvaccinated players ... then with the relaxed everything else, it'll cause availability issues

[Marko69]

A big problem this season is that with things in general more open and social (which is great), you'd probably expect there to be more Covid transmission esp among the unvaccinated. It's gonna come into the locker rooms of teams that have a high % of unvaccinated players ... then with the relaxed everything else, it'll cause availability issues

And the vaccinated. I know a few double vacced people with covid......., and my mother in law, (76) double vacced, and is a bit fucked at the moment with the 'Rona. Worrying.

[Forsh]

And the vaccinated. I know a few double vacced people with covid......., and my mother in law, (76) double vacced, and is a bit fucked at the moment with the 'Rona. Worrying.

Sorry to hear about your mother in law hope she's OK.

Yes vaccinated could bring Covid into locker rooms, too. Teams above the 85% are going to have such advantages, tho

[Futureshock]

Not sure about the Lions roster and vaccination. Taylor Decker is the only guy I've heard say anything about it (anti-vaxxer, so he'll prob miss some time this season).

Hope he doesn't get Wally Pipped by Sewell

[Futureshock]

Double vaccinated? Is that a thing? Why? Does not sound like what the developers designed it.

[Futureshock]

14 NFL teams have at least 85 percent of players vaccinated

Posted by Myles Simmons on July 22, 2021, 12:09 PM EDT

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With the vast majority of training camps beginning in a week, the NFL’s COVID-19 vaccination numbers continue to rise.

Per Judy Battista of NFL Media, there are now 14 teams with at least 85 percent of their players vaccinated. Plus, more than 78 percent of players in the league have received at least one shot of a COVID-19 vaccine.

While the exact rules and regulations have not yet been announced, the league is expected to loosen COVID-19 restrictions on teams that reach the 85 percent threshold.

With vaccines safe and effective, the numbers should continue to rise as more players report to their team facilities. The restrictions set out by the league and players association incentivize players to get vaccinated so that they may do things like eat in the cafeteria with their teammates and leave the team hotel when on the road.

The first practices for 29 of the 32 teams are scheduled for a week from Thursday.