NFL News

[Futureshock]

NFL now proposing one preseason game

Posted by Josh Alper on July 20, 2020, 7:11 AM EDT

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A league source told PFT last week that one preseason game was the likely outcome of talks between the NFL and NFLPA about how to prepare for the regular season and it sounds like we’re moving closer to that point.

The NFL slashed the schedule to two games per team and has been sticking to that plan despite the players’ push to wipe out the exhibition season entirely. Tom Pelissero of NFL Media reports that the league has altered their stance.

Per the report, the league is now proposing one preseason game. That game would be played in what was scheduled to be the third week of preseason action.

That would allow for something closer to the schedule recommended by a joint committee put in place by the NFL and NFLPA. That schedule includes three weeks of strength and conditioning work, 10 days of non-padded practice and 10 days of padded practice over the final two weeks. The actual schedule might not match up exactly, but losing another preseason game would move closer to what players have been asking for in recent talks.

[Futureshock]

NFL proposes broad expansion of rules for promoting players from practice squad

Posted by Mike Florio on July 20, 2020, 6:32 AM EDT

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So what happens if one or more players test positive for COVID-19 the night before a game? The team will be able to instantly add up to 16 players to the roster, up to 90 minutes before kickoff.

The league’s proposal to the NFL Players Association contemplates broad expansion of the rules regarding the practice squad to allow for the promotion of players at any point up to 90 minutes before kickoff.

For starters, the practice squad will be expanded from 12 to 16 players. Up to six members of the practice squad will have no limitation on number of accrued seasons, meaning that a team can have a half-dozen veterans of unlimited experience ready to go at a moment’s notice.

The proposal points out that the existing Contagious Disease Policy allows for the promotion of a minimum of six practice-squad players in the event of an outbreak. For 2020, the minimum will be removed to allow for any number of players to be promoted in the event of a COVID-19 outbreak.

The only requirement for immediate promotion of practice-squad players is that the positive diagnosis must happen after the deadline has passed for making player transactions in the normal course of business. Which, as long as teams move expeditiously to make a roster move if the positive diagnosis happens before 4:00 p.m. ET, should not keep teams from filling up to roster spots on short notice, if an outbreak happens the night before, or the day of, a given game.

[Futureshock]

Good one horsehead....

Peyton Manning on empty stadiums: Ask somebody on the Chargers

Posted by Michael David Smith on July 20, 2020, 5:17 AM EDT

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Peyton Manning took a little shot at the Chargers when asked about pro sports being played in empty buildings.

Manning was asked to address the Denver Nuggets over video conference, and one player asked him how he’d prepare for playing in an arena without fans, which the Nuggets will do when the NBA resumes play in its “bubble” in Orlando. Manning responded with a joke about the Chargers so often having so few fans in their stadium.

“He was like, ‘I’m just not the one to answer that question,’” Nuggets player Mason Plumlee told the Denver Post of the team’s meeting with Manning. “’You’d probably have to ask somebody with the Chargers or one of these other teams.’ . . . It was like talking to somebody in the locker room, which was really cool.”

This year the Chargers may have no choice but to play in empty stadiums, in which case they’ll feel right at home.

[Futureshock]

Players blast NFL’s COVID-19 response in coordinated social media campaign

Posted by Michael David Smith on July 19, 2020, 12:13 PM EDT

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Several NFL players took to Twitter around noon Eastern on Sunday to blast the NFL for what the players say is the lack of a coherent plan to keep them healthy while having a safe and successful season amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

In tweets that were obviously part of a coordinated campaign, players including Drew Brees, Russell Wilson, J.J. Watt and Stefon Diggs said the NFL’s planning has been unacceptable.

Brees wrote: “We need Football! We need sports! We need hope! The NFL’s unwillingness to follow the recommendations of their own medical experts will prevent that. If the NFL doesn’t do their part to keep players healthy there is no football in 2020. It’s that simple. Get it done @NFL.”

Wilson wrote, “I am concerned. My wife is pregnant. NFL training camp is about to start. And there’s still No Clear Plan on Player Health & Family Safety. We want to play football but we also want to protect our loved ones.”

Watt wrote: “Once again in the interest of keeping everyone (players & fans) as informed as possible, here is an updated list of what we as players know and don’t know as the first group gets set to report to training camp tomorrow.” Watt included a list of the questions players have.

Diggs wrote: “If #AdamSilver can respect the voices and protect his @NBA players why can’t @nflcommish do the same? Listen to your players. If we want to have a full season it will have to look different with OUR safety as the priority. @NFL make the necessary changes.”

Players used the #WeWantToPlay hashtag, making it clear that they don’t want to cancel the season, but they do want to play the season with the proper precautions in place.

[Futureshock]

PFT’s 2020 preseason power rankings

Posted by Mike Florio on July 19, 2020, 9:13 AM EDT

24. Jets: Like the Falcons, the Jets went 6-2 after starting 1-7. They remain overlooked and disregarded. Which could play right into their hands.

25. Bears: Up and down and down and up and who knows how it will play out for a team that finally has a quarterback that fits the offense? There’s a chance it all falls together. There’s an equal chance it all falls apart.

26. Dolphins: Unable to trade up for Joe Burrow, the team in perpetual search of a franchise quarterback has pinned its hopes to Tua Tagovailoa. If he can stay healthy, he has a chance. His inability to stay healthy at the college level creates real concern as to whether he can do it at the next level.

27. Lions: Last season started with promise and potential and then it all fell apart after Matthew Stafford suffered a back injury. Maybe this year will be different. (“Maybe this year will be different” is how pretty much every season starts for Lions fans.)

[Futureshock]

Lorenzo Alexander: Testing every single day is only way to play safely

Posted by Michael David Smith on July 18, 2020, 4:30 PM EDT

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Lorenzo Alexander is retired from the Bills (for now), but he remains a member of the NFL Players Association executive board, and he says players — plus coaches and other staffers — need to be tested for COVID-19 every single day if the season is going to be played safely.

Echoing NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith’s call for daily testing, Alexander told Pat McAfee that the medical experts say daily testing is necessary.

“That’s what our jointly appointed medical committee recommended and that’s what we’re trying to follow,” Alexander said, via the Buffalo News. “It’s more than just the player. It’s the coaches, it’s the front office, the medical personnel, trainers, equipment staff. We have to make sure we are tested daily and we are going home every day. We are not in a bubble. I have to go home and my wife might be working or my kids might be going to school.

“We want as much information as we can so you don’t have someone who is asymptomatic spreading it through the locker room or a position group or to a coach, which I think would be even more impactful. If you lost two or three coaches, it might be impossible to play a game. We don’t have a backup to all those jobs and positions.

“The more information you have, it’s better any time you’re dealing with a disease, especially one we don’t understand. I want to be tested every single day to mitigate the virus as best as we can in these close quarters.”

There have been estimates that it could cost the NFL upwards of $100 million to test every player every day. Of course, it would cost the NFL a lot more than that if an outbreak among players led to the season being canceled.

[Futureshock]

ROGER GOODELLCOM, NFL
ESPN's Dan Graziano reports the NFL salary cap "could drop by up to $70 million" in 2021 due to reduced revenues stemming from the coronavirus.


Player and staff safety are the top priorities for the NFL right now, especially with training camp set to begin by the end of July, but once the fine details are ironed out on that front, the league and the player's association have to negotiate finances. The owners want the salary cap to be cut as soon as possible. The players, of course, would like to see the reduced salary cap spread out for as long as possible. Because the players are taking on safety risks, you'd think they have more leverage in these negotiations, but this likely will take weeks to sort out. The NFL remains on course to play Week 1 as scheduled, just without fans. Despite record-high COVID-19 cases in "hot spots", team doctors believe the players are safe to report to training camp right now.

SOURCE: Dan Graziano on Twitter
Jul 17, 2020, 7:47 PM

[Futureshock]

Chris Jones promises “five-plus” rings for the Chiefs

Posted by Mike Florio on July 20, 2020, 7:36 PM EDT

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The Chiefs will be writing big checks to Chris Jones. Chris Jones has written an even bigger check to the football gods.

Appearing on KCSP 610 Sports Radio, Jones made a bold vow for the future performances of the defending Super Bowl champions.

“This is only the beginning,” Jones said. “We plan to have another parade and another parade and another parade. We’re going to make sure we bring not one, not two, not three, not four, but five-plus rings to Kansas City. It’s been 50 years of waiting, but the wait is over now. It’s time to create a dynasty.”

Five-plus rings definitely would constitute a dynasty. And while it’s not impossible, it’s also not going to be easy. In the 2019 postseason, the Chiefs had to climb off the ropes in every game, down 24 vs. the Texans down 10 twice vs. the Titans, and ultimately down 10 with seven minutes left against the 49ers, in order to get the franchise’s first Super Bowl win in 50 years.

And everyone will be gunning for the Chiefs, year in and year out for as long as Patrick Mahomes plays quarterback for the team.

If they can indeed pull off “five-plus” championships with Mahomes, the player who currently is the best in the league will indeed be regarded as the best ever. And that contract the Chiefs got him to sign will get better and better.

[Futureshock]

Reports: League agrees to no preseason games

Posted by Charean Williams on July 20, 2020, 7:30 PM EDT

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The NFLPA wanted no preseason games. The NFL wanted two.

A compromise was one, but the NFLPA wouldn’t give in so we are headed to a summer without preseason football.

The league today offered the union no preseason games, according to multiple reports.

Perhaps the only people disappointed in the news are the undrafted free agents, who now face an even steeper climb to sticking around for the regular season.

The news is a big step toward starting training camp on time.

A report earlier Monday indicated the league had reduced the number of preseason games it wanted to one, which would have happened the third week of the exhibition season. But as NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith explained Friday: It makes no sense to ask players to risk their health and safety for a meaningless game.

“To engage in two games where players would be flying all over the country and then engaging with each other to work, and to do that prior to the season, doesn’t increase the likelihood of starting and finishing the season on time,” Smith said on a Pro Football Writers of America conference call Friday.

No preseason games will allow the league to follow a schedule recommended by a joint committee. That schedule calls for three weeks of strength and conditioning work, 10 days of non-padded practice and 10 days of padded practice over the final two weeks.

[Futureshock]

NFLPA: Testing protocols give us the best chance to play and finish the season

Posted by Michael David Smith on July 20, 2020, 6:10 PM EDT

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The NFL Players Association sounded an optimistic note today after agreeing with the NFL that players will be tested daily when they report to training camp.

“Our union has been pushing for the strongest testing, tracing and treatment protocols to keep our players safe,” the NFLPA said in a statement. “The testing protocols we agreed to are one critical factor that will help us return to work safely and gives us the best chance to play and finish the season.”

The union’s statement notes that testing protocols are only “one” factor in getting the season started, which serves as a reminder that there are still issues that will need to be sorted out before the season starts.

The statement also makes clear the importance not only of starting the season, but of finishing the season. The goal isn’t just to get all 32 teams on the field in Week One, it’s to have a procedure in place that allows a full regular season and postseason to be played without any outbreaks so severe that a team can’t play. Testing players regularly, getting results quickly and isolating infected players immediately are all necessary for that to happen.

[Futureshock]

NFL chief medical officer: There’s no finish line with health and safety

Posted by Josh Alper on July 20, 2020, 4:51 PM EDT

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The NFL and NFLPA have agreed on COVID-19 testing procedures for the start of training camp, but the NFL’s chief medical officer cautioned that those procedures and others governing health and safety are far from done deals.

When players and team employees report to team facilities, they’ll need to test negative twice to be granted access. As noted earlier, they’ll be tested daily for the first two weeks and move to every other day if the positive test rate drops below five percent. If the rate were to rise again, they’d revert back to daily tests and that’s part of why Dr. Allen Sills doesn’t consider the current approach to be a permanent one.

“This is ongoing work,” Sills said, via ESPN.com. “There’s no finish line with health and safety, and I think these protocol are living, breathing documents, which means they will change as we get new information. They will undoubtedly be changing over time, which is what we usually see in medicine.”

Testing was one of the biggest issues to iron out ahead of training camp. Opt-out procedures for players and the preseason schedule are a couple of others that remain to be decided.

[Futureshock]

Bradlee Anae agrees to terms with Cowboys

Posted by Charean Williams on July 20, 2020, 2:40 PM EDT

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With rookies scheduled to report later this week, the Cowboys have agreed to terms with one of the seven draft picks they need to get signed.

Fifth-round pick Bradlee Anae agreed to terms with the team, Anae’s agent, David Canter, tweeted Monday afternoon.

The Cowboys selected the Utah defensive end with the 179th overall choice, with some calling Anae one of the steals of the draft. Anae will get a chance to join the Cowboys’ defensive end rotation.

Anae increased his sack total every season, finishing his senior season with 13. He set the career sacks record at the school with 30.

Anae also posted 135 tackles, 41.5 tackles for loss, six forced fumbles and four pass deflections.

Anae earned All-America and first team All-Pac-12 honors last season and won the Morris Trophy as the conference’s top defensive lineman.
__________________________________________________ _______

I wanted the Lions to draft this guy. He was almost unblockable at the Senior Bowl. MP, "That's not how we do things around here!"

[Futureshock]

NFL testing will consume resources that could be devoted to the general public

Posted by Mike Florio on July 20, 2020, 10:54 AM EDT

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If/when NFL players arrive for work with a testing process that potentially will happen on a daily basis, the resources devoted to testing players, coaches, and other key personnel definitely will take away testing capacity that could be devoted to the general public. It’s a basic fact that has yet to be addressed by the league of the NFL Players Association.

At some point, they’ll each have to address the reality that NFL teams may be getting roughly 180 tests conducted and analyzed in less than a full day, while the average citizen must wait for up to a week.

In his new Football Morning in America column, Peter King explains that the Vikings have a 40-foot trailer outside the team’s facility — blocking coach Mike Zimmer’s parking spot — for the purposes of gathering samples. According to King, the league has retained BioReference Laboratories to conduct the testing, with the understanding that the results will be provided within 24 hours.

Some teams’ samples will have to be flown to a testing facility, because BioReference Laboratories doesn’t have a testing facility in every NFL city. But BioReference Laboratories will do what it has to do to expedite the testing process, presumably because the NFL is paying a premium for that service.

Still, anything and everything that BioReference Laboratories is doing to collect and analyze, based on 32 NFL teams, nearly 5,800 tests each and every day could be done to provide results more quickly for members of the general public. In its Orlando bubble, the NBA has arranged for BioReference Laboratories to provide the same resources to the local population.

Will the NFL make similar arrangements in each and every NFL city? If the NFL is planning to do so, it has yet to say so.

Some would argue that the diversion of extra resources to the NFL is justified by the importance of ensuring that football season happens. Non-football fans would feel differently, especially if they or a family member will be waiting for a week to get COVID-19 results while the local NFL team is getting daily results of daily testing of roughly 180 people.

[Cody_Russell]

It's good to hear the NFL finally has a plan ... testing protocols/ daily testing. There's a chance we see football in 2020.

[foxhopper]

Money and greed are what's important.

Wonder if anyone will do the leg work to see who is behind BioReference Labs and their sweetheart deal?