Players react quickly to NFL's new (and ridiculous) COVID safety protocols
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touchdownwire.usatoday.com]
Doug Farrar
To put it kindly, the NFL has not always been on the vanguard of player safety. One only has to go back to the league’s history regarding head trauma to confirm that. So, it should come as no surprise that as the league tries to manage the possibility of a safe season in the middle of an increasing coronavirus pandemic, there have been bumps along the way. NFLPA president and Browns center J.C. Tretter has addressed this at length, and two new rulings that came down from the league office on Thursday met with immediate derision from NFL players.
First, there’s the new rule against players exchanging jerseys after games, which seems hilarious after those same players have been crashing into each other for three hours.
49ers cornerback Richard Sherman led the charge on this series of reactions, and he’s entirely correct.
Sherman’s teammate, tight end George Kittle, was similarly perplexed.
Panthers receiver D.J. Moore was quite succinct on the subject.
And Texans left tackle Laremy Tunsil, who knows a thing or two about wearing masks (badumching), had this to say:
Of course, this is a ridiculous rule, and seems to be more about limiting player expression than anything else.
Then, there was a second rule which makes even less sense, if that’s at all possible.
Okay, so… we’re practicing social distancing when it comes to jersey exchanges, but we’re letting coaches and players interact on the sidelines without masks? And everyone else on the sideline has to wear a mask? Say what? There is no way to do the math on this and make it work.
The NFL is less than a month away from having training camps open on its particular schedule, and the fact that the league is throwing weird stuff like this out in the open when it comes to the absolutely vital aspect of player safety looms large when we talk about a 2020 NFL season starting on time, surviving a 16-game regular season and subsequent postseason, or existing at all. And having the players this up in arms about it does not bode well for the agreements that will need to take place before those players will take the field.
