NFL News

[Futureshock]

Report: NFL firm on decision to move to two preseason games

Posted by Curtis Crabtree on July 1, 2020, 11:31 PM EDT

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As the NFL looks to trim the preseason in half, the NFLPA appears to want the number of preseason games to be cut even further.

Denver Broncos player representative Brandon McManus said in a tweet Wednesday evening to expect either one or zero preseason games to be played. The NFLPA has not signed off on the reduction in games from four to two as of yet and McManus’ statement indicates a desire for even fewer preseason games to be played.

However, the NFL doesn’t need the approval of the Players’ Association to implement the two-game preseason. According to Mark Maske of the Washington Post, the NFL is committed to the plan of playing two preseason games after making the decision to cut the schedule in half on Wednesday.

“It will be two (games),” a person familiar with the planning told the newspaper.

The loss of two preseason games will make it harder for back-end roster players to make teams in training camp as there will be fewer game opportunities for players to stand out. However, the loss of games will also give the teams two more weeks – if camps go off as scheduled – without playing games to get up to speed after not spending any time together on a field this offseason.

Much like baseball just went through as they had a labor disagreement over how to get their season started, the NFL could see similar issues such as the length of the preseason, and health and safety protocols becoming points of contention. While the NFL doesn’t need the NFLPA’s approval to set the preseason length, they could use the prospect of fewer games as a bargaining chip for other areas of discussion.

For now, the NFL appears set on sticking firm with the decision that it will be two preseason games.

[Futureshock]

Report: NFL may require fans to sign a COVID-19 waiver

Posted by Mike Florio on July 1, 2020, 5:20 PM EDT

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The NFL wants fans to be able to attend games during a pandemic. The NFL doesn’t want to be responsible for what may happen to fans who attend games during a pandemic.

Daniel Kaplan of TheAthletic.com reports that the league is considering a requirement that fans sign liability waivers protecting the league from lawsuits based on contracting COVID-19. The potential waiver “likely” will be forwarded to teams by the middle of next week.

“It is probably something you do electronically, just trying to figure out the operational challenges associated with waivers,” an unnamed source told Kaplan. “Just have to work out how best to do that.”

Although no waiver is necessary as to the question of whether fans who attend games assume the risk of catching the virus (indeed, anyone and everyone with any amount of sense and awareness knows about the virus by now), the question becomes whether teams and stadiums can or will take reasonable steps to protect fans from getting it. And the problem is that, if someone catches it, they’ll be inclined to argue that, whatever the teams or stadiums did, it clearly wasn’t good enough.

That said, it will be difficult to prove that a fan caught the virus at the game, even if there’s evidence of negligence or recklessness by teams and stadiums.

With so many unresolved issues still percolating in the NFL as it tries to figure out how to accomplish the 2020 season, I’d rather see the NFL spending time and effort resolving the various challenges than coming up with ways to escape liability to paying customers, especially if teams and stadiums eventually engage in behavior for which they should be held liable.

Put another way, the league should be spending its time focusing on insisting on fan wearing masks to games instead of insisting on fans signing away their rights.

[Futureshock]

NFL will not have a supplemental draft this year

Posted by Michael David Smith on July 1, 2020, 4:02 PM EDT

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There will be no supplemental draft in 2020.

Despite some talk that there could be an increase in players entering the supplemental draft because players who are uncertain about the status of the college football season would rather turn pro, Tom Pelissero of NFL Media reports that the NFL informed all 32 teams today that no supplemental draft will take place this year.

Although the Collective Bargaining Agreement gives provides for the possibility of a supplemental draft each year, there’s no rule requiring it.

The supplemental draft began in 1977 and is intended for college football players whose eligibility status changed after the deadline to enter the regular draft. Last year’s supplemental draft saw one player drafted, with the Cardinals spending a fifth-round pick on safety Jalen Thompson.

[Futureshock]

Largest video display in NFL is complete

Posted by Mike Florio on July 1, 2020, 12:44 PM EDT

TheRams.com

SoFi Stadium announced on Wednesday that the largest videoboard in all of sports has been completed.

It consists of 70,000 square feet and it stretches for more than 120 yards. It weighs 2.2 million pounds, and it has more than 260 speakers embedded in it. The wattage can power 1,500 home theater systems.

And the reality is that most fans will likely be seeing it from home, not in person.

That’s the obvious irony of the boast from the new Rams/Chargers venue regarding the video display. The way things are going, no one will be there to see it at all in 2020. At this point, all we can reasonably hope for (given the current path of the pandemic) is that the players will be there to see it.

[Futureshock]

Yannick Ngakoue Prepared To Sit Out 2020 Season?


July 2nd, 2020 at 1:05pm CST by Rory Parks

As you probably know by now, Jaguars defensive end Yannick Ngakoue wants out of Jacksonville. He is not inclined to sign his $17.788MM franchise tender, and while he wants a new contract with an average annual value in excess of $20MM, he does not want to sign such a contract with the Jags.



We heard yesterday that the 25-year-old is still pushing for a trade, but given the amount of draft capital Jacksonville has asked for in the past — in addition to the fact that an acquiring team would have to pony up a $100MM+ payday, a tough sell in this COVID-19 climate — a trade does not seem especially likely at this point. However, a burying of the hatchet between player and team seems equally unlikely, and Mike Garafolo of the NFL Network is hearing that Ngakoue could sit out the entire 2020 season (video link).

A key point here is that Ngakoue just finished his rookie contract and has yet to sign a second professional deal. Although the new CBA is harsher than its predecessor with respect to holdouts, those stricter provisions only apply to players who hold out after having signed a contract as a veteran. So while a full-year absence would toll Ngakoue’s service time, it seems he can hold out through training camp and a chunk of the regular season without worrying about mandatory fines and losing an accrued season.

A young pass rusher like Ngakoue is a hot commodity in today’s NFL, but as it stands right now, if he wants to play this season and earn a paycheck, he will have to do so with the Jags. Of course, an injury and/or more clarity with respect to the 2021 salary cap could make a rival club more inclined to discuss a trade, and it sounds like Ngakoue is willing to wait.

[Forsh]

Ngakoue sounds like a free agent tweener, to a degree. He's a guy too young and valuable to let go for nothing, but not quite a guy who's worth paying top FA dollar to, and especially if you have to trade draft picks.

I'd much rather have Chris Jones

[TheLondonLion]

Anyone struggling to see how the NFL completes a season at this rate?

The US seems to be riddled from coronavirus with no answers and no desire for a second lockdown.

[Cody_Russell]

Have to see what happens to MLB in July/ August.

As for the rate, I would imagine the daily confirmed cases drop soon. 2.7M confirmed cases. ~350M people in the US. Possibility of 5 to 10M people having COVID19 in total in the US, but you can't accurately say how many people with COVID19 haven't tested...
Ah shit, never mind... still a long ways away from herd immunity.

[chemiclord]

Anyone struggling to see how the NFL completes a season at this rate?

The US seems to be riddled from coronavirus with no answers and no desire for a second lockdown.

Oh, there's PLENTY of answers, just you have a leadership that refuses to do any of them because the grift is more important than lives.

[TheLondonLion]

It’s ridiculous that the most advanced country in the world can’t control this. Thailand and Vietnam, close to China and pretty much second or third world countries have both pretty much eliminated it. America is getting lit up 6 months later.

And we aren’t much better in the UK either. Well, a fair bit better but not great.

[Futureshock]

Anyone struggling to see how the NFL completes a season at this rate?

The US seems to be riddled from coronavirus with no answers and no desire for a second lockdown.

Hope isn't a plan, but, the NFL hopes the Pandemic is at a level they can manage. So they have no real plan but to push the schedule back (if need be) weeks.

It doesn't look good. It's hard to be optimistic that there will be a season.

[Futureshock]

NFL, NFLPA need to get to work

Posted by Mike Florio on July 3, 2020, 8:44 AM EDT

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Earlier this year, the NFL and NFL Players Association finalized after months of work a new labor agreement that covers 11 seasons of football. This month, they need to reach, essentially, a new labor agreement that covers one season of football.

Football in a pandemic creates real issues that send management and labor back to the bargaining table. Even though the NFLPA ratified the current labor deal during the pandemic, efforts by the league to ensure the safety of players, coaches, and other employees sufficiently change the working conditions to require the two sides to negotiate. Given the many issues created by the pandemic, it won’t be easy, it won’t be simple, and it won’t be quick.

Which means that both sides need to get to work, ASAFP, if a deal is going to be done before camp opens on July 28.

Both sides need to be motivated, both sides need to be fair, and both sides need to be flexible. It can’t be about settling old scores or advancing irrelevant agendas or peeking ahead to future years. The league and the union must, with all deliberate speed, identify all issues and resolve all issues in a way that works for both sides and that ultimately advances the broader safety interests of the players and everyone else associated with the playing of the games.

Of course, what the league thinks advances the safety interests of the players may be different from what the players believe. That’s where problems can arise, and problems that can’t be worked out could delay the start of training camp and, potentially, the start of the season.

So, basically, concerns regarding a traditional work stoppage in 2021 that went away when the new labor deal was signed are now front and center. Without a comprehensive agreement, a non-traditional work stoppage could be coming, soon.

[Futureshock]

Teams should consider splitting squads for training camp

Posted by Mike Florio on July 3, 2020, 7:56 AM EDT

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For several weeks now, teams have wrestled with the reality of taking 90 players to training camp. Whether it’s a team-by-team decision or a league-wide protocol, it’s unlikely that so many young men will be congregating in one place for upcoming preseason practices.

But if only 60 or 70 players actually are present for camp, what happens to the rest? Do they simply get cut, with no chance to make the roster? Or do they remain on the team but essentially on ice, away from the cluster of teammates awaiting a call in the event that one or more players test positive?

Then there’s this possibility, one that no team has yet to publicly discuss. Why not split the team? Whether the squads practice in different shifts (following a thorough cleaning of the primary practice facility for camp) or whether part of the team works at the practice facility and the rest practices at the stadium, there’s real value in keeping the team separated.

Obviously, fewer players in any given space will make it easier to comply with guidelines aimed at limiting the spread of the virus. More importantly, if an outbreak commences, the other half of the team will (in theory) be insulated.

Coaches may not like it, but it may be the safer and smarter approach, aimed both at protecting all players and protecting the team against what feels inevitable: The virus getting in, and multiple players catching it before it can be contained.

[Futureshock]

49ers promote masks, with a shot at the Saints

Posted by Michael David Smith on July 2, 2020, 4:53 PM EDT

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As it becomes clear that the simplest way everyone can reduce the spread of COVID-19 is to wear a mask, NFL teams are promoting the wearing of masks in the hopes that the football season will be able to start on time. The 49ers have found a creative way to do it.

The 49ers’ Twitter posted the message, “Be a saint. Grab a face mask” with video of George Kittle‘s catch-and-run to set up the winning field goal in last season’s game at New Orleans. That play ended with Saints safety Marcus Williams blatantly grabbing and pulling Kittle’s facemask in a desperate attempt to bring him down.

The message comes after Saints coach Sean Payton jumped aboard the pro-mask train with a public service announcement this week.

Everyone should be aboard the pro-mask train. When you’re in public, you should be wearing a mask over your mouth and nose. The new coronavirus spreads via respiratory droplets, and when you cover your mouth and nose, those droplets and the virus don’t spread. When you don’t cover your mouth and nose, those droplets and the virus do spread. Everyone should wear a mask.

[Futureshock]

Ok. IDK how that would work....



Report: NFL uninterested in delaying 2021 draft even if college plays in spring

Posted by Charean Williams on July 2, 2020, 3:52 PM EDT

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Every football league is considering every scenario for getting this season played.

Several college programs already have had to shut down their strength and conditioning work due to too many positive COVID-19 tests. That does not bode well for getting in a fall season.

That’s why college football could end up playing in the spring.

Penn State athletic director Sandy Barbour called playing in the spring “a last resort,” but it is an idea college football has considered.

Dan Wolken of USA Today reports that college football officials quietly have inquired with the NFL about whether the league would consider pushing back the 2021 draft in the event of a spring season for the colleges. The NFL, according to Wolken, made clear it isn’t interested.

The 86th NFL draft is scheduled for April 29 to May 1, 2021, in downtown Cleveland.