Source: NFL cutting preseason in half, pushing back start
The NFL will cut its preseason in half and push back the start of exhibition play so teams have more time to train following an all virtual offseason made necessary by the coronavirus pandemic, a person with knowledge of the decision told The Associated Press.
The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the league hasn’t announced that the preseason will be cut from four games to two.
The pandemic forced teams to conduct their entire offseason programs via videoconference. So, teams will be gathering together for the first time when training camps open July 28.
Minus the usual minicamps, on-field practices and in-person weight training from April to June, players’ conditioning won’t be what it normally is. So, eliminating the first week of preseason games Aug. 13-16 will give them more time to ratchet up their football fitness.
Teams will now play exhibitions Aug. 20-24 and Aug. 27-31 during what were originally the second and third weeks of exhibition play with all 32 teams playing one home and one road game.
Most of those games will remain the same as originally scheduled although some matchups in that second slate will have to be changed so every team gets a game at home.
The exhibition finales on Sept.
3 were also scrapped, giving teams more time to get ready for the regular season, which opens Sept. 10 with Houston at Kansas City.
There are no changes to the regular season schedule.
The league continues to draw up protocols, not only for COVID-19 mitigation but for ramping up practices during the first
few weeks of training camp.
Players raise concerns
Some NFL players are raising concerns about playing football amid the coronavirus pandemic while others are ignoring advice of medical experts by working out with teammates.
JC Tretter, a center on the Browns and president of the NFL Players Association, wrote an open letter to players on Tuesday, saying they have to fight for “necessary COVID-19 protections.”
Saints safety Malcolm Jenkins said last week that “football is a nonessential business and so we don’t need to do it.”
“We are not invincible, and as recent reports have shown, we certainly aren’t immune to this virus,” Tretter wrote in his letter.
The league informed owners last week that training camp is expected to open as scheduled later this month
Dr. Allen Sills, the league’s chief medical officer, said he has regular communication with medical officers of other professional sports leagues and they are learning from one another.
“We’re approaching this as a medical and public health problem,” Sills said Wednesday. “This isn’t about one league having an advantage over another. We’re working together as a group of medical professionals saying how can we do the best job in taking care of our patients in creating the safest possible environments.”
“I want to play football. I think all my peers want to play football. It’s how we make a living,” Jenkins said in a video posted on Twitter. “But there’s so much that we don’t know right now. When we look at what’s happening in the country, cases are going up, projected deaths are going up . ... I know that the bar for the NFL is going to be high when it comes to creating a safe working environment.”